Somewhere Only We Know
by toofunny2
Summary: Was it love or friendship? With Luke, she could never tell. Full summary inside. Java Junkie. Romance, Friendship, Angst. COMPLETE!
1. I Walked Across An Empty Land

**Title: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Summary: **Completely AU. Luke and Lorelai meet when they're teenagers, and their intense friendship revolves around the secret garden. Things grow complicated when she meets Christopher, and the story follows them into their early twenties.

**Chapter Title: **I Walked Across An Empty Land

**AN: **_Hey, so this is my new story! It sounds very strange, I know, but I couldn't really describe this "secret garden" in the summary. It'll be good, I promise, just give it a shot! Totally AU though, there most likely will be no Rory (or at least as we know her), so its' really just the characters and their personalities that I'm basing this on. I hope you enjoy it, and review!_

Lorelai tapped her pen against the desk at a steady rhythm, watching the clock. Ten more minutes of this bone-numbingly boring lecture, to be followed by an hour of bone-numbingly boring chit chat by her so-called friends, followed by three more hours of – well, bone-numbingly boring lectures. And then she would go home, and spend two hours doing bone-numbingly boring homework, and sit through a six course meal of bone-numbingly boring conversation, and then she would watch some bimbo's TV show, and then she would go to sleep.

A thrilling life, this girl had.

Finally, _finally, _the bell rang. However dull her life was, history class was _definitely _the lowlight of it. She caught up with Aimi Stockman at the door, the blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty who Lorelai called her best friend. In fact, most girls in the ninth grade would have died to get to sit with Aimi Stockman at lunch, and to hang out at Aimi Stockman's house on the weekends. But really, Aimi Stockman was the dullest girl Lorelai had ever met. Her interests consisted of boys, makeup, clothes, and boys. Not that Lorelai had no interest in these things, but she could see past the mindlessness and go a little deeper. And besides, she knew that the only reason Aimi paid any attention to her at all was because _Lorelai _was the second-prettiest girl in the grade, or so said the boys. To a viewer, Aimi and Lorelai seemed like a perfect match as best friends: they were both pretty, they both liked boys, they both liked shopping, they both liked parties…but the real difference lay in the fact that Lorelai liked to think. And apparently, Aimi did not.

"Hey, Lorelai," Aimi said cheerfully, linking an arm through hers.

"Hi, Aimi," she said, feeling the girl's long blonde hair brush against her shoulder and pushing her own curly brown hair out of her face. "God, Dr. Simon is a drone, isn't he? I wish I had Mrs. Vaughan again. She was weird, but at least amusing. This semester is turning out way sucko."

"What are you talking about?" Aimi asked, brushing her wisp of bangs across her forehead. "You aced the test last week." Lorelai shrugged. If by a B+ you meant aced. "And we have that party at Alex Jordan's house this Friday. _And, _I'm almost certain that Joe Cogan has a crush on you. Actually, I'm positive. Alyssa said that Mark told her that Joe told Alex he likes you."

"Oh, well, in that case," she said dryly as she tossed her books in her locker with one hand – a feat that required three years of practice to finally master. Aimi was a big fan of arm-linking.

"Hey, your tie is coming undone," Aimi commented, and reached over to tighten Lorelai's lopsided tie. Clearly Aimi couldn't see that not only was her tie lopsided, but her jacket was undone, her shirt untucked, and her hair flying around her face. The destroyed look happened to work for Lorelai, but Aimi was prim and proper, her uniform complete with a burgundy ribbon in her hair and kneesocks. It made Lorelai sick. She pushed Aimi's hand away, slightly tightening the tie and turning.

"Let's eat. I'm starving."

"You're _always _starving," the girl commented as they made their way down the hall. "Maybe that's why you went up from a two to a four last year."

"Yeah, or maybe it was the magical process called _growing," _she said bitterly, tugging at her shirt self-consciously. Of course, she knew she wasn't fat – she had always been blessed with a fast metabolism, and ate disgusting amounts, didn't exercise at all, and maintained an attractive weight. But in Aimi Stockman's book, anything above a size zero was deemed chubby, and a four – well, a four was just too much!

They waited on line in the cafeteria, the buzz of highschoolers around them. Most of the freshmen were completely intimidated by the upperclassmen, what with their blasé attitudes and their magically good grades, but Lorelai didn't care, and Aimi acted as if she didn't care, mimicking Lorelai's confidence. It was funny that Aimi was supposedly the queen bee of the grade, but she was the one constantly imitating Lorelai. Sighing, she loaded up her tray with macaroni and cheese, a chocolate bar and a soda, eyeing Aimi's pitiful salad with disdain.

"Please, I'm begging you, have some mac and cheese. Or at least a piece of chocolate. I swear, you're going to disappear!" Not that would be so bad, come to think of it. She shrugged and began to shovel mac and cheese into her mouth, oblivious to the gathering crowd at their table. Alex, Joe and Mark, the "terrible threesome," plopped their trays down, and were soon joined by Alyssa, Michelle, Janie, and the two boys who hung out on the fringes of their group: Chris and Jack. Lorelai grinned briefly at them before tearing open her chocolate bar.

"Did you forget to have breakfast?" Janie asked in her painfully slow voice, sitting down just as slow and cautiously putting a piece of lettuce to her lips, as if afraid it would explode.

"Ha, ha," she said, utterly sick of the long lasting joke amongst the group that Lorelai was underfed at home. If only! The extravagant breakfast buffets and six course dinners were enough to serve the entire high school, yet somehow it was only consumed by the Gilmores. She sat back, done with her food, and lifted her diet Coke to her mouth.

"Hey, so Lorelai," Joe began, glancing down shyly. She ignored Aimi's knowing look, accompanied by that of Alyssa, and looked right into the poor guy's brown eyes. He was cute…plain, but cute. And nice, although a bit dull. Now that she thought about it, she realized that she had absolutely no interest in Joe Cogan. Ah, well.

"What's up, Joe?" she asked, prompting him.

"You know the party this Friday?"

"Mmm hmmm."

"Well, do you want to go?" She shrugged.

"I guess. Why?"

"No, I mean…" he trailed off. She knew what he meant. That he had been asking if she wanted to go with _him. _But she didn't, and she didn't want to let him down, either. After a couple seconds of awkward silence, Michelle said,

"Hey, did you guys hear? Sam and Whitney broke up. _Again! _Can you _believe _that? The seniors at this school are insane!" And the table broke into frenzied conversation about who was hooking up with who, who liked who, and who were on the rocks. With a load groan, she shoved her chair back from the table and stood.

"Whoa, Lor. Where you going?" Chris asked.

"I, um…have to meet with my math teacher. I'll see you guys later." She dropped her tray on the conveyer belt and walked down the now empty hallway, grabbing her bag and breaking into a jog as she left the school. A quiet road encircled the building. A lake was to the left, and the center of town to the right. She slowed to a walk, turning to the left and pulling out her portable music player, a Christmas present from Michelle last year. A popular rock song began playing, and she kept walking, listening more to the music than she was to where she was going. _Do it light , taking me through the night/Shadow dancing , baby you do it right/Give me more, drag me across the floor/Shadow dancing , all this and nothing more. _As she walked, she shed her jacket, putting it in her book bag, and kicked off her shoes, walking barefoot in the grass. She had skipped school before, usually to hang out with a boy or just when she couldn't take it anymore. Today was one of those days. It was so…_mundane. _Days full of meaningless banter from people she couldn't care less about, followed by afternoons of dull, dull, _dull _work. It was a poor-little-rich-girl act, but she hated it. She hated this, where she was constantly looking forward to something that she didn't even care about in the first place. She _hated _it. She had been happier last year, when Jocelyn had still been at their school. She had made up a trio with Aimi and Lorelai, but Lorelai and Jocelyn were always better friends. She was a light brunette, with laughing eyes and soft curves that embodied her entire personality. She had been Lorelai's best friend, but now she went to the public high school, while Emily and Richard had sent Lorelai to the prep school that supposedly had the best teachers in the tri state area. If those were the best teachers, she shuddered to think what school was like at Hartford High.

She didn't know how long she walked, or where, but finally she threw down her bag and sat down in the grass next to it, closing her eyes and leaning her head back to bask in the October sun. Now _this _made her happy – being alone, left to her thoughts. She could just…relax. And still get home in time for dinner.

She must have dozed off, because Lorelai became aware that the music had stopped. She sat up and blinked. She put her music player in her bag and checked her watch: it was three. She had been there for two hours. Where, exactly, though? She stood up, her feet squishing the grass, and looked around. It was a clearing of some sort in the woods that surrounded the lake, she figured. There was a grassy expanse maybe 20 square feet, dotted with wild flowers and a few pine trees. A large boulder stood to one side, and a tall, strong tree of some sort to the other. She looked behind her and saw a path leading from the main road, and guessed that she had veered off onto it. She didn't quite know how to get back, but she was pleased with her new discovery, and decided to let loose the little girl inside of her and enjoy it. She darted across the grass to the boulder and clambered up it, getting up to the top and standing a good twenty feet above everything else. "I'm Queen of the world!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, the word "world" echoing around her. She then ran to the tree and placed one foot on the bottom branch, pulling herself up to stand on the limb. She easily scaled the tree, getting to the topmost sturdy branch and balancing precariously on the thin yet strong arm of the tree. She cautiously sat, leaning her back against the trunk and letting one leg fall on either side of her new seat, looking down at the clearing, which looked tiny from her position way up high. She let her head rest against the trunk as well, taking a deep breath of the pine scented air and smiling.

"Hey!" She jumped, rolling off the branch. Her nerves lurched and she grabbed wildly, latching onto a branch and hanging, struggling to pull herself back up. "Just lower yourself down!" a voice called – a male voice, she vaguely noted – and she looked down below her.

"It's so far!"

"It's just a foot or so. You can do it." How did this stranger know what she could or could not do? She was going to die! With a deep breath, Lorelai unclenched her arms and unbent her elbows, lowering herself slowly until the tips of her toes rested on the branch. "Just steady yourself against the trunk and get down here before you kill yourself," the boy said, and she did so, slowly climbing down until she reached the soft bed of grass once again. "Jeez," he said. "You scared me."

"_I _scared _you?" _she sputtered incredulously. "You – you – you - " Finally, she gave up, and sighed.

"I thought I was the only one who knew about this place," he said, gesturing around him.

"It's kind of public property."

"Yeah, well…anyway. Who are you?"

"Lorelai Gilmore. Who are _you?" _

"Luke Danes." She shrugged.

"Nice to meet you. So do you…come here often?" she asked a little self-mockingly.

"Actually, yeah. I guess now we'll have to share it."

"Fine." For some reason, she was actually pissed off at him. Or, she was just in a pissed off mood and taking it _out _on him. After all, he seemed fairly nice, albeit sort of antisocial. He looked a little older than her, maybe sixteen or so. And he was cute, if you liked flannel and baseball caps. It so happened that Lorelai didn't mind them. "Well, I'll go, then. Don't want to intrude on your…space."

"No, it's okay, you can stay. I have food," he offered. She wrinkled her nose.

"What kind of food?"

"Uh…" he rummaged in a backpack and returned with a plastic bag containing…something.

"_What is that?" _she asked, staring at the glob-like mass of what was supposed to be food.

"Tofu," he said defensively. "Fine. I'll eat it myself, then."

"Fine." She walked to her bag and slipped on her shoes, bringing her bag to the boulder and sitting down.

"What are you doing?"

"Sharing. You get that side, I get the boulder and the grass around it."

"Where am I supposed to sit?"

"On your ass." With that, she returned her headphones to her ears and proceeded to blast Sting. She kept an eye on Luke, though. He opened his disgusting bag of…tofu…and picked at it, then pulled out a deck of baseball cards and began to sort them. _Baseball cards? Seriously? What is he, eight? _"Aw. Did your little brother's bag get switched with yours?" He looked up irritably.

"If you must know, I collect rare cards."

"Oh. How, uh, nice." She switched the song. "So…baseball, huh. That's your thing?"

"Not my _thing. _One of my things."

"So what are your other things?" She pulled the headphones down to rest around her neck, so she could still hear the soft beats of _Every Breath You Take. _She drew her legs up to her, the soft pleats of her burgundy skirt falling to cover her shorts.

"I don't know," he said uneasily, crossing his jeaned legs and tugging on the sleeves of his blue flannel shirt. "I don't really keep a list."

"Fine. I'll go. I'm fourteen. I'm in ninth grade. I'm friends with Aimi Stockman, which probably means nothing to you, and it means nothing to _me, _but to the entire preppy student body, it means a whole lot. Apparently. I like…_General Hospital _and every movie invented before 1960, and I'm amazing at Monopoly but I always lose at Sorry. My parents are the most aggravating people I have ever met, and yesterday the maid misplaced my Billy Joel CD and I'm boycotting. Wow. That made me sound really, _really _spoiled. I'm not. Spoiled, I mean. I hate, hate, _hate _the whole New-England elite world. I know, poor little rich girl, but I _hate _it. _You _try it, you'll see!" She blinked. "Whoops. Sorry. That was a little much." He nodded. "Anyway. You go."

"Okay. I'm sixteen, junior. I don't like anyone in my grade, they're idiots." She nodded in agreement. "I like Star Trek – I'm _not _a Trekkie, though – and I work at my dad's pharmacy after school three times a week, and I hate it, but I can't bring myself to tell him that. I live about halfway to Stars Hollow – do you know it? I go to the high school there, but I play baseball near here a lot after school, so I come here a lot when stuff gets…overwhelming, I guess. My mom's dead. And I would totally kick your sorry ass at Monopoly." She grinned, hugging her knees.

"So…Stars Hollow, huh? That's the tiny town. Right?"

"If you must call it that," he said. "The people there are insane. Taylor – the mayor, or something, is probably the craziest man I've ever met. Patty, the dance instructor, keeps commenting on my butt and how good it would look in tights. Creepy, right? And my dad is just getting to be too much – I don't _want _to be a pharmacist. I don't _want _to babysit my stupid 13 year old sister to make sure she doesn't go off and get high. I – argh!" He stated the word – argh – which made her giggle.

"Seems like we're in the same boat," she said. "I hate my privileged life, and you hate your seemingly perfect one. Not that I'm saying it isn't – _my _life seems perfect. For chrissakes, I'm Aimi Stockman's best friend!"

"Who the hell is Aimi Stockman?"

"_That _girl. The blonde, pretty, shallow one. You know the type."

"I sure do." She shrugged sheepishly.

"Anyway…Luke, was it?" He nodded. "I kinda think I'll be coming back here. If that's okay, I mean. It's nice, and it helps to…sort your thoughts. You know?"

"Do I ever. Come back whenever you want. You…you seem all right." And even though she barely knew the guy, she was fairly sure that "you seem all right" was a pretty high compliment.


	2. I Knew The Pathway

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter: **I Knew The Pathway

**Author's Note: **Glad everyone liked the first chapter. Just a warning, there _will _be Christopher related stuff in this story, a good deal of it, actually, but it's Java Junkie the entire time.  Enjoy!

Lorelai laughed and swung her legs in front of her so they dangled off of the boulder.

"So then what?" she asked, taking a bite of her sandwich and looking at Luke, who sat next to her.

"Well, then he threw a banana at the dean and said that he didn't care that it was illegal to solicit on school grounds, he was going to keep his banana stand running."

"God, banana stand. Does this guy not realize what that sounds like? He's just _asking _to be mocked."

"That's Kirk's hobby, I think." She grinned and carefully placed the wrapper of her sandwich in her bag so it wouldn't fall. "So, how was your day?" She shrugged.

"Same old. I got a B on my history test, and Aimi found that mauve is the perfect shade of eyeshadow for her. It was a thrilling day."

"Sounds like it."

"Oh, hey. I got something for you." She turned to her bag, rummaging for a while before producing a slightly bent card. "My friend Joe stole his brother's collection and was selling them, and I thought you'd like it. I don't know if you have it already, or anything, but…here." She handed him the baseball card, and his eyes lit up.

"Whoa! I've been looking for this one." He grinned at her. "Hey, thanks." She smiled. Praise from Luke was a rare thing, she'd learned in the past month.

"Your welcome." He tucked the card away in his pocket.

"I don't have a present for you," he began.

"Why should you?"

"No, I wasn't done. I don't have a present for you, but I was wondering…well, it's going to be really stupid, but this kid in my class – Jason, he's kind of a prick, but we're friends – he's having this thing on Saturday. A party, I guess, and I wouldn't go except that he's practically forcing me to because he says I need to – what was it? Get some action? Anyway, I was wondering if – well, no, you're gonna say no, it'll suck compared to your posh parties, but - "

"I'd love to go," she said, laughing.

"What? Really? Because it's gonna suck."

"Hey. A real house party would be ten times better than the uptight, stick-up-your-ass parties I go to. It's absolutely no fun until someone gets drunk, and then while the entire freshman student body is getting wasted, I amuse myself by watching them. It's not as fun as it sounds."

"Well, anyway. This should basically be a bunch of people getting wasted while a boom box is playing and we can stand around and mock."

"I love mocking. I live for mocking."

"Then this should be fun." She nodded slowly and then cocked her head, looking at him.

"So…you're inviting me to a friend's party, because he's making you hook up with someone and you don't want to. Right?"

"Right."

"So you're bringing me to defer the horny chicas?"

"Pretty much. And to mock."

"So I'm your fake date. Right?"

"Exactly." She exhaled, relieved. For some reason, she was _afraid _of her relationship with Luke being romantic. Her quote on quote guy friends at school only wanted a piece of ass, and Luke was the first guy she'd ever really been able to talk to. She had been scared he was asking her out, because really, if that went sour, their friendship would be over, and that would suck majorly. She'd been afraid he was going to ask her out, but turned out he just thought of her as a friend, too, like she did. A good friend. A friend who was staring at her…

"What?" she demanded, brushing her hair out of her face.

"I said, do you want to meet at the party or here?"

"Oh. I guess I'll meet you there." She pulled her bag around and slung it over her shoulder, checking the time. "I should go…my parents are having some sort of soirée tonight, and I have to go change into whatever monstrosity Emily Gilmore has picked out for me." He laughed.

"Good luck with that one. I'll see you tomorrow, then." It had become a routine – they both ended up at their place after school, every day. The first week or so they had sat fairly far apart, but eventually grown closer and begun talking a lot. So much that she was pretty sure he knew her better than she had ever let anyone know her. Him, however…well, Luke was pretty closed off. He didn't open up as much. But despite that, their friendship had grown quickly, and she could now easily call him her best friend.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow." She stood up and hopped down the boulder, waving to him before she took off down the now familiar path to the road, where she proceeded to walk the mile home.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore!" She jumped. There was a greeting no girl wanted to hear upon entering her house. She looked for the source of the noise and shrugged, heading upstairs. "Lorelai! Lorelai, I'm talking to you, at least _pretend _like you care." She turned, exasperated.

"_What?" _Emily glared at her.

"You're late."

"I'm not late. This stupid thing starts at seven. It's six."

"I asked you to be home at five."

"No, you requested. I deigned not to honor that request. If you'll excuse me, I have to change."

"Where were you?" Emily demanded, crossing her arms over her stuffy jacket.

"Out!"

"_Where?"_

"I was with Aimi," she lied. "We were studying." Her mother raised an eyebrow.

"You were with Aimi?"

"Yeah."

"That's funny, seeing as she called for you half an hour ago wondering if you'd seen her math book." She sighed.

"Look, mom, we can debate this now or I can go get dressed and sit nicely through dinner. Which would you rather?"

"You were with a boy," Emily declared. "I know it. I can see it in your eyes. You're all…flushed." Please. She had been 'with a boy' for the past month, and she hadn't been _flushed. _What did Emily think they were doing? Fornicating?

"Mom…I was just studying. You wanna see? I'll gladly show you the nice highlighted pages in my English book." Her mom sighed.

"Fine. Go get dressed. Marquette will come in a few minutes to do your hair and makeup."

"What kind of a name is Marquette?" she grumbled as she went into her room, eyeing the poofy, knee-length blue dress laid out for her. It looked like a bat mitzvah dress gone bad. She sighed and took off her jacket and skirt, and unbuttoned her shirt, letting the clothes fall to the ground. She slipped the complicated garment over her head and zipped it up, eyeing herself in the mirror. The tight bodice literally exploded into a skirt of tulle that gathered at the knees, making her look like she'd walked off stage from the Nutcracker and into the Gilmore household. She looked to the door when she heard a knock.

"Come in." A tall, unattractive women who was undoubtedly Marquette pushed her into the seat by her vanity and proceeded to attack her hair with a comb. "Ow!" She slapped at the woman's wrist, but it was moving so fast that it was impossible. Before she knew it, Lorelai's hair was in an extremely intricate updo, and within a few seconds her face looked like something out of a Victorian portrait. She sighed and slipped on heels, before, in an act of rebellion, fastening tacky plastic orange hearts in her ears.

"_Lorelai!" _came a sharp bark, and she hopped to, looking downstairs before making her grand entrance – the princess in the fifty cent earrings. A classic.

"What now?"

"I want to talk to you." She rolled her eyes and grudgingly followed her mother into the living room. "I want you to tell me where you were today."

"Why, Mom? Why? I go out _every single day _after school, with Aimi, or Joe, or Alyssa, and you never care! Why now?"

"Because now I've found out that you are lying to me, Lorelai, so tell me." She rolled her eyes yet again.

"Fine. You're right. I was with a guy."

"Who? What boy? I know it wasn't Joe, because Aimi said he was with her. So who?"

"I…Chris," she blurted. Emily blinked.

"Chris?"

"Christopher."

"The Hayden boy?"

"Yeah. We were hanging out."

"Oh. Well. All right, then."

"You happy?"

"Fine. Go wait. Greet people." She groaned and tramped out of the room. "And take those hunks of plastic out of your ears!" Emily shouted after her. She made a face and went to stand by the door, where the families of DAR members and Emily and Richard's friends were entering. She recognized several people from school, all dragged along with their parents, but her heart stopped when she saw Christopher. She grabbed his arm as he came in.

"Hey, Lor. What's up?" he asked, surprised.

"If my mom asks, I was with you all afternoon," she said urgently. "And she _will _ask. I'll explain later, your name just popped out – is that okay?"

"Uh…sure. See ya later," he said as he moved on. She sighed and turned her attention to the now entering couple.

"Hi, welcome. I'm Lorelai, Emily and Richard's daughter. Can I show you to the living room?"

At some point during the evening, a hand locked into her's. She glanced to the source.

"Chris. What's going on?"

"You said you'd fill me in."

"Fine…let's go somewhere else, though." He nodded, looking happy for some reason, and she tugged him to a bathroom. She closed the door behind him. "So…well, it's a long story, but basically I go to this place after school, and my mom can't know." He frowned.

"What kind of place?"

"Um…I'd rather not say."

"Is it like a doctor or something?"

"No! Nothing like that. It's just a thing, but if my mom finds out it's, like, ruined. So she asked me where I'd been, and she knew I wasn't with Joe, and I – well, your name just came out. Sorry." He grinned, stepping closer to her.

"My name just…came out?"

"Well…yeah," she said, looking at his face now two inches from hers. _Oh, god. He's going to kiss me. Why? Why does he have to do this? Wh – _her thoughts were cut off by his lips on hers, and she let out a gasp of surprise. He took it as a sign of enthusiasm and kissed her again. She could taste the champagne on his lips. She seized face with her hands, pushing him away. "What the hell?" she demanded, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "Where did that come from?"

"You said my name just came out."

"_So?"_

"Well, obviously I'm on your mind."

"No, _obviously _I see you every day. God, Chris! You didn't even stop to think that I might be with someone." His face fell.

"Are you? With someone?"

"Well…no. I mean…I don't know, but _still! _Jeez. I gotta go, Chris. Sober up, and for the love of _god, _don't do that again."

"Sorry," he said half-heartedly as she left the small bathroom. She shuddered as if to shake herself free of the kiss, and then sat down on a chaise as she put it into perspective. Really, people in her grade hooked up all the time. She'd kissed Chris before, albeit during a game of seven minutes in heaven last year, but still. It wasn't _that _big a deal. But she knew that wasn't the problem. The problem was, she hadn't kissed him back because of Luke, plain and simple. Not because she liked him, but because she knew exactly what his reaction would be if she told him. _So you kissed this guy? Cool. _Then he'd meander off somewhere and it would take a couple days for him to be back to normal. She knew, because at the party a few weeks ago where Aimi had promised to get Joe to kiss her, she had succeeded, and the two of them had ended up locked in the coat closet – by Aimi of all people – and left to kiss for about half an hour. When she had related this to Luke, he had sat on the other side of the boulder for a couple days, and though they still talked he was weird. She didn't know the etiquette for talking about other guys with a guy friend, and figured she was breaking the rules.

The loud music overwhelmed her as she stepped into Jason Macowski's spacious house, which was packed with high schoolers, most a little older than her, dancing to a blasting boom box. The air stank of booze, and as she pushed her way through the dancing crowd she found herself being handed a plastic cup. She took it but didn't drink from it, searching the room for Luke. Finally, she spotted the tell tale backwards baseball cap and made her way to him.

"Hey!" she shouted over the music, accidentally bumping into him as someone jostled her.

"Sorry," he said loudly so she could hear, and she frowned.

"For what?

"This sucks."

"Hey. It's _way _better than any party _I've _ever been to. Even the supposedly hopping ones that my friends throw." She looked around. "You're the only person not dancing."

"I don't bounce."

"C'mon, bounce!" She jumped a little, grabbing his shoulders and yanking them up and down. He shook his head stubbornly, and she rolled her eyes. "So who's Jason?"

"That one." He pointed to this kid who seemed to be the polar opposite of Luke. Blonde, baby faced, dancing with a girl, wearing a clean cut polo shirt…how he was friends with him was beyond her.

"You're friends with him?"

"Oh, shut up. You wanna find a quieter room?" She nodded, and they forced their way through the crowd and into a room where a bunch of people were sitting down, looking winded. "You okay?" he asked her once they'd sat down. She nodded, surprised.

"Why?"

"Just…I don't know. Yesterday you were kinda quiet. How was that party at your house? Did something happen?" God, this guy had ESP or something.

"Um…well, not really. It's kind of embarrassing."

"C'mon. Tell me."

"Well…my mom like _demanded _to know where I was, so I told her I was with this guy Chris, in my grade. And then he was at the quote on quote party, and I gave him a heads up. He took the fact that his name came out of my mouth to mean that I'm hopelessly in love with him, and he kissed me, but I made him stop." She said this all in one breath. He shrugged.

"And?"

"Well…what?"

"Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Because when I told you how I kissed Joe, you got all weird!"

"Weird? I wasn't weird. Why would I be weird?"

"When you say the word weird three times, it's weird. Weird. Weird." She grinned, crossing her jeaned legs in front of her.

"It's different, though, because…well, in this case, you were kissed by some asshole. But with Joe, you made out with him in a closet." She blushed.

"And?"

"Well, it's a little…"

"A little what?" she demanded, eyeing him suspiciously. If he called her a whore, she swore to god…

"A little…slutty. Sorry!" He apologized immediately. "I know you're not. A slut. God, I don't think I've _ever _used that word. But just the way you say it, making out in a closet with someone? It…well, it is. Slutty, I mean. The action. Not you."

"So what do you care? I can make out with whoever I want, I could make out with _Jason _over there if I wanted to, but it has nothing to do with _you! _I barely even know you!"

"You know me."

"No, Luke. _You _know _me." _They glared at each other. "So you can't get weird about that. It's not like I make out on a regular basis, but even if I did, it has nothing to do with you. So just…leave it."

"You overreact," he muttered, taking a sip from a cup. She raised her eyebrows.

"I didn't know you drank."

"I don't." He showed her the contents of the cup. "Water."

"Oh."

"You, on the other hand…" he gestured to the cup holding god knows what in her hand.

"I didn't drink any," she said defensively. "I hate getting drunk. You know that."

"Yeah." She looked over at the real party. "You wanna go over there?" She bit her lip.

"Pleaaaase?" she mock begged, and he nodded indulgingly, and they went to what she could only assume was the living room. While they stood at the fringes of the dancing talking, she could see a guy eyeing her, and she averted her eyes. The last thing she needed was another boy in the picture. But sure enough, he came over.

"Hey," he said, and she smelled beer on his breath. "I'm Lance."

"Lorelai," she said cagily.

"You wanna dance?"

"Um, n - " she began to decline him, but Luke stepped in.

"Sure she does." She glared at him. "What? Don't not do it because of me, that's ridiculous. Did we not just discuss that?"

"But - " but before she could tell him that while she didn't give a shit what he thought, she didn't _want _to dance with this drunk… _guy, _she was pulled into the cathartic throng and yanked against him, her hips matched against his. She looked for Luke and saw him against the wall, determinedly not looking at her. Lance's hands groped her hips, and she tentatively placed hers on his shoulders, if only not to look ridiculous and to keep her balance – he was pulling her against him so hard that she was barely carrying her own weight. She figured at the end of the song she disengage herself from him, but when the next song started he simply pulled her closer, if that was even possible. She glanced again in Luke's direction and saw him looking her way now, but she knew to anyone else she just looked like a girl enjoying grinding with a boy, not a girl who wanted more than anything to go back to that friend who would _never _grind his pelvis into hers. Or at least she hoped not.

"Um, Lance," she began, struggling to get her face far enough away from his to actually see him, "Would you mind if I - " he smothered her with his lips. They were unpracticed and rough, and when she tried to push him away he just pulled her tighter. Through her wide open eyes she now saw Luke taking notice, and she stared at him, hoping he'd get the hint. Finally Lance released her lips, and proceeded to continue dancing with her, his hot breath disgusting in her ear, his hands sliding down lower…

There was a loud _smack _and a shout, and she stumbled free of Lance, who was holding his head.

"_Luke!" _she shouted, incredulous. You simply could not sucker punch a guy and expect it to turn out okay! "What the hell are you doing?"

"That guy was all over you, and you were freaking out!"

"You didn't have to punch him! Jesus, Luke, you're gonna get murdered!" Apparently not, though, because as Lance threw a clumsy punch Luke's way, Luke launched himself at him despite Lorelai's shouts, and they fell to the ground, wrestling. "Stop it!" she shouted, ignoring the growing crowd around them encouraging the fighters. _"Stop it! _Luke!" Two other boys stepped into the circle, one of them grabbing Luke off of Lance and the other one holding the offender down. The guy shoved Luke towards Lorelai, and she threw him a scathing look before she turned and pushed her way through the circle, bursting through the door into the fresh air. In a few seconds, a hand was on her shoulder. She shoved him off and turned to face him. "What the hell is the matter with you, Luke? Why would you do that? I can't _believe_ you!"

"Well I'm sorry for saving you," he said sarcastically, his face growing red with what she assumed was anger.

"_Saving _me? You were the one who pushed me on him! I didn't _want _to dance with him, I could tell he was wasted, and you practically forced me!"

"Yeah, but then I stopped him from doing god _knows _what!"

"I can take care of myself, Luke, I'm a big girl. I had it under control."

"Sure didn't seem like that from the signals you were sending me."

"I didn't want you to punch the guy, I _wanted _you to just get me out of there! I _hate _that you did this. God damnit!" she shouted, pushing his attempt at a comforting hand away again. "Go fucking home, Luke, I don't want to _look _at you." She turned and ran to the bus stop, but not quick enough to see him looking after her. She knew he had meant well, but…she hadn't thought he was the kind of guy to punch someone else in the fact. And in addition to that, what did it say that he was so angry at the guy that he wanted to hurt him? The guy who was dancing with his friend, was the guy that Luke couldn't stand so much that he had to wrestle him? It seemed too much of a coincidence, and she couldn't help but think that she was an important factor in the equation of Luke hating Lance. And that was exactly what she didn't want to be.


	3. Like The Back Of My Hand

**Story: **Somewhere Only

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Like The Back Of My Hand

**Author's Note: **So, I'm imagining that you _weren't _too thrilled with the whole Chris-kisses-Lorelai, Lorelai-blows-up-at-Luke thing. Well, if you can't deal with big, and I mean _big _dents in the Luke and Lorelai friendship/relationship, you might want to stop reading, because it's not going to be smooth at all. All will end well, though! So, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter titles and story title taken from Somewhere Only We Know, by Keane.

"Stop it." She pushed past Christopher, who was standing by her locker with what she could only assume was an attempt at a sexy look on his face. He turned and followed her. "Chris, for the love of god, go away," she said irritably.

"Someone's in a good mood," Michelle commented as she passed, and Lorelai made a face at her. She didn't need bimbos commenting on her state of mind, thank you very much. She kept walking and went into the girls bathroom, fairly sure that Chris was outside the door. If he had any self respect, he would just go away. She sighed and looked in the mirror. She looked like a wreck. Her eyes were red, looking like she hadn't slept much, and the bags under her eyes didn't do much to help. Smudges of leftover eyeliner were around her eyes, and her lips looked a little swollen, though no one could see it except for her. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, her uniform thrown on haphazardly – her jacket was unbuttoned, her tie too loose, and her shirt untucked and partially unbuttoned at the bottom. Even her shoes were untied.

She had spent the entirety of Sunday after the infamous in her room, attempting at an English essay and giving up, staring at the ceiling and wishing desperately she could go back to the woods. But she knew Luke would be there, and he had first claim to the place. He had been there first. So she was back where she had started: nowhere.

She finally left the bathroom and was pleasantly surprised to see that Chris had left. Checking her schedule, she realized only P.E. was left for the day, so instead she ditched, walking down the ever-so familiar road. Luke wouldn't be there yet. She knew from experience now that his school got out at three, and practice was until four thirty, so he usually didn't show until around five. She had three solid hours to herself. She took the tiny pathway noticeable to only one who knew it was there to the small clearing, and dropped her shoes in her bag. Still holding the bag – it had her music and some sort of candy bar - she stepped onto the first branch of the tree, hauling herself up to the second, broad and sturdy one, where she could sit cross-legged with her back against the trunk. A burnt-orange leaf fell into her lap, and then another one. Looking around, she realized that the Indian Summer had past in the last few weeks, and the leaves were quickly turning. The grass was littered with leaves and twigs, and the air was cold. She had goosebumps on her bare legs. The soft win blew her ponytail from side to side, thumping gently against her back, and she closed her eyes as she often did here, just reveling in the purity of the place.

She jumped when she heard a twig crack, and looked down. _Shit. _Luke looked around, then up, and she could have sworn he looked right at her, but apparently he couldn't see her. She sat perfectly still, and watched him trudge to the boulder and sit in a crevice, holding his head in his hands. She frowned, watching. After a long time, he shouted,

"Damnit!" and punched ground. A mistake, apparently, because he shook his hand in the air and examined the knuckles. She could see a large bruise across the front two knuckles of his right hand from the other night, and cringed. "I'm such an idiot," she heard him mutter. "Goddamnit…" then he was quiet, and after a while she saw that he had fallen asleep. He must not have slept much the previous night, either. When she was sure he was asleep, she dropped soundlessly from the tree.

"Whoa." She jumped.

"Oh. You're awake."

"I did not know that you were here," he said, enunciating every word very clearly.

"I was in the tree," she explained lamely.

"Why are you here?"

"Because. I didn't know you were coming."

"I ditched school," he muttered, and she nodded.

"Me too." She slipped her shoes back on and shouldered her bag, prepared to walk out of there. She couldn't deal with this. As she turned she heard,

"So how's Lance?" She turned incredulously.

"_What?"_

"Or Chris. Or was it Joe? I can't keep up."

"You are unbelievable." She glared at him, her face stormy. "How _dare _you? How dare you call me a whore?"

"I didn't call you a whore."

"Chris. Or was it Joe?" she mimicked. "God, I can't stand you. How I _ever _considered you my best friend is beyond me." His expression faltered.

"Wh-what? Why?"

"Well, let's see, shall we? You get weird when I tell you I kissed a guy because you think I'm a slut, you push me on some drunken future rapist, then you sucker punch him, and then _you _get mad at _me? _You have _no right _to be mad at me. _No right."_

"Doesn't it mean anything at all that I got that guy off of you?"

"_No! _Because all you had to was pull him away. Not _punch _him! I don't know what you were thinking! And now that I know you're the kind of guy who _would _punch some random guy, I'm rethinking our friendship."

"Fine," he said stonily. "Go be with Chris, then. And after that, maybe Lance'll invite you over, and this time I _won't _get him away, even if he's got you pinned against - " Before he could finish whatever awful sentence he was saying, she had turned and left, walking home. She stopped outside the gate. She couldn't go in there – it was only 2:30, and she was supposed to go to a yearbook meeting after school. Emily would freak if she found her home. So instead, she kept walking, taking a turn there, straight there, until she reached a bus stop that she knew went into Stars Hollow. She turned sharply, wanting to avoid any chance of running into Luke, and instead found herself back at school. She shrugged and sat down on the steps, and after about ten minutes the doors flew open and teenagers flooded the steps. After a while, Aimi, Michelle and Alyssa flounced by, stopping when they noticed Lorelai.

"Hi," Aimi said. "You cut gym?"

"Yeah."

"Why? It's good exercise. You could do with some." Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"I'm okay, thanks."

"You coming to yearbook meeting? We're meeting at 3:10, me and the girls were just going to grab a latte across the street." Now, generally, Lorelai would have _loved _to grab a latte, but she really, _really _didn't want to spend more time with Aimi and her little minions than necessary.

"Thanks, I'm okay. I actually can't go to yearbook meeting, I wanted to tell you."

"Oh. Why not?" _Why not, Aimi? Because the one person I can actually talk to is also the person I would most like to kill, and I want anything _but _to sit in a room debating whether winter wonderland is a better theme than freaking disco, that's why._ Instead, she said,

"I have to help out at my mom's…event…party type thing." Aimi nodded slowly.

"Okay, then. So I guess…I'll see you…tomorrow, then."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow." She sighed and stood, but stopped when she spotted Christopher coming down the steps. He stopped when he saw her and the grin spread across his face. _"What now?" _she demanded.

"Someone's angry," he noted.

"Yeah, well, you caught me on a bad day." He sat on the thick banister of the steps, a more concerned, friendly look on his face now.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Well, there's this guy – a friend, well he _was – _who was just being a total ass."

"He go to this school?"

"No. He goes to public school."

"Ah. Going slumming, Lor?"

"Shut up, I don't care about him like that. At _all, _even. But he just…well, I told him about how you kissed me, and before, like a month ago, I told him about when me and Joe hooked up. And then at this party we were at, this _guy _was all over me, and he punched him, and then he got mad at me for getting mad at him for sucker punching the guy, and now he's calling me a whore, and - " she stopped abruptly. "God, why am I even telling you this?"

"No, its okay," he said honestly. "Look, Lor, this guy sounds like an ass, okay? And clearly he's jealous."

"What? Jealous? We're just - "

"Friends? I'd bet anything to say that if he hadn't punched that guy, you wouldn't be just friends for much longer."

"No. Seriously. He's the first real guy friend I've ever had, but now that it turns out he's such an _ass, _I…" she trailed off, looking at Chris with a small frown on her face. He was being…_nice? _She was having an awful time, and instead of trying to 'seduce' her or whatever, he was actually being nice? This was a first.

"Hey, look at me." He turned her chin so she faced him, an she smiled a little. "You know the best revenge?"

"Oh, Chris, I don't want - " he placed a finger to her lips, silencing her, and then hopped down from where he sat. He placed a hand tentatively on her hip, and ran the other one down her arm to hold her hand. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and slightly frightened, almost. "Chris…" she said softly, but was quieted by a soft, gentle kiss. Nothing like the slightly drunken one of a few nights ago, but a real kiss. A sweet one. And at that moment, kissing Chris really _did _seem like the perfect revenge, however awful it would be if Luke found out. But suddenly, as he kissed her again, all thoughts of Luke flew out of her head momentarily and she kissed him back. After a while they broke apart, and she looked own.

"Lor?"

"I…I have to go," she murmured, ignoring the confused look on his face and the guilty feeling in her gut.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry if I - "

"No, I just…I have to…" Before she could finish the sentence, she was off, darting through the throngs of teenagers and sprinting down the road, veering sharply onto the dirt path and barreling through the branches. "Luke, I'm sorry, I was so wrong, you were only trying to - " she cut off abruptly, realizing that the clearing was utterly empty. "No," she whispered, sinking down onto the ground and staring at a leaf falling through the air. "Luke…" her voice trailed off, and she finally stood. "God, how did I screw this up?" she asked herself out loud as she turned to leave.

"No, wait," his voice said, and her heart soared. She turned and saw him up in the tree. She smiled.

"You were in the tree."

"Yeah, I was in the tree," he said from his position on the second branch, exactly where she had been.

"Luke, I'm so sorry…"

"No. I'm sorry. I was so out of line."

"We both were." He nodded as he dropped down from the tree, his hat flying off. She caught it. "But what made you change your mind?"

"I…I ki - " her throat closed up. She couldn't say it. She couldn't tell him that she kissed Chris, and that she meant it, and that… "I just got to thinking," she heard herself lie. More lying. That seemed to be all she did nowadays. "I'm sorry." He nodded.

"Me too. We forgive each other?"

"That we do," she said, smiling softly. She held up the hat. "Here." He walked over, and when he took it she hugged him tightly. She felt his arms tentatively encircle her. God, did that feel good, hugging him. He was like a big flannel clad teddy bear. "Thanks for Saturday night, Luke," she murmured into the pocket of his shirt. "I don't know what I would have done if…"

"You would have gotten him off. You're strong. Strong willed, anyway." She laughed and released him, and placed the cap on his head, backwards as always. "I gotta go, I've been back and forth here too many times to count today. But I'll - "

"See you tomorrow," he finished, and she nodded.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." As he returned to the boulder and took out a textbook, she walked down the path yet again, heading home. She got to the gate and stopped up short.

"Hey." There sat Chris on his motorcycle – when had he gotten that? He stood and came up to her. "I felt kinda bad about before, I probably shouldn't have done that. Did you go talk to the guy?"

"Yeah, we're okay. Friends again." She smiled. "And it's okay, Chris, it was…it was a good kiss." A pleased smile spread across his face.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." They grinned, and he came closer.

"Can I do it again?" A thousand thoughts exploded in her head, alternating images of Luke and Chris and Joe and even Lance flashing through her mind, but before she settled on a choice they were kissing again, and so she let him walk her to the wall and kiss her against it, his lips soft against hers, his hands light on her shoulders. Some part of her felt…well, she couldn't place it exactly. Not guilty, because she had nothing to be guilty of, but almost sad. But the other part felt like this was exactly what she needed. So she let it happen.

**Author's Note: **OKAY EVERYBODY CALM. Don't come at me with pitchforks, as I know you're all planning to do. _This is not a Chris and Lorelai story. _This is a Luke and Lorelai story, and Chris adds twists, drama and angst. All good things. So before you go on a "NO NO I HATE HIM" rampage, let's remember that it'll make it a better story, and sometimes the saddest parts are the best parts. Was Say Something not one of the most amazing episodes of all time? So, deep breath. And keep reading. (In a few days.)


	4. I Felt The Earth Beneath My Feet

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **I Felt The Earth

**Author's Note: **Okay, so I'd just like to say something (again). I've been getting some upset reviews/PMs regarding Lorelai and Chris. Now, I'll say it again – _I hate them together. _However, I do think that them being together can make for some _really _interesting story lines. So I don't want anyone telling me "No, no, they can't sleep together," or, "If you don't get her with Luke RIGT NOW…", because honestly, there are going to be at _least _five chapters in which Lorelai is with Chris, and since this story moves quickly from year to year, there _is _a good chance that they will sleep together. Please keep reading, because I think it'll turn out really good.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

Lorelai was running. Her legs moving faster than she had ever known them to move, her arms pumping fast, her long hair swishing against her nearly bare back.

"Lorelai!" She ignored her mother's sharp voice. She was fifteen now, she could do what she wanted to. Her turquoise bikini slipped dangerously and she finally stopped at the water's edge to adjust it, and let the waves rush over her feet, her polished toes cramping at the touch of the cold water.

"Free at last!" she said, spinning with her arms spread wide out. God, sometimes it felt so good to just _run _like a little kid, as fast as you possibly could, until your legs simply refused to work anymore. She darted into the waves, clenching her teeth against the cold. How could it be so cold in July? The water wasn't _supposed _to be cold in July. The hot air blew her hair which now hung down to her lower back, and she dunked under the water, coming up all salty.

"Lorelai, get out of there!" Emily called, shielding her eyes with a large, unattractive sunhat and peering out into the water. "No one _else _is out there. It's not safe." Oh, what with all the sharks and all, yes, she could see that there was real danger afoot. Sighing, she raced the breaker wave back to shore and collapsed on the sand, laughing. A warm hand closed upon hers, and she smiled as Chris sat down next to her.

"Defying authority, are we?" he asked before leaning over and kissing her lightly on her salty lips.

"Opposite. Can't cross Emily Gilmore when she has a chance of getting sunstroke. She gets extremely irritable."

"Ah, well, what can you do." They kissed again, and she looked to where the rest of the usual beach crowd hung out. A good amount of students from the high school came to the beach in the summer, and since seventh grade they had been having get-togethers all summer long. "You wanna go grab a beer?" he asked. Their friends tended to bring coolers of what they told their parents was soda, but when the parents set up camp under umbrellas and tents and the teenagers displayed their bodies to the sun, the beer came out and the inhibitions went home.

"Sure," she said, though she wasn't planning to drink much. She didn't like beer much, though dating Chris had introduced her to all kinds of alcohol that she discovered were quite nice, on occasion, though she still hated to be drunk at all. But Chris's parents were rarely home, and the alcohol cabinet was always unlocked, so they spent many a night tasting the different varieties until they considered themselves connoisseurs of all alcoholic beverages. He gave her a hand to help her up off the sand, and they made their way to the towels covered with tan teenagers, leaning on each other, his hand slipping down to cup her hip. He passed her a beer and she uncapped it, taking a sip, but then holding it as Chris chugged half of it. She winced. She really, _really _hated it when he got drunk.

"Here, c'mon. Sit with me," he said, motioning to the big beach towel he had spread out. She fell down next to him and he playfully pushed her so she fell back, and let him lean over her and kiss her, not caring that her hair was getting entirely sandy and that they were on display for the whole world to see. Aimi was on the next towel over, full out making out with Joe, who, after getting over what she was sure was a deep and meaningful crush on Lorelai, had moved on to what he must have considered the next best thing: Aimi. After a few minutes they came up for air, and she took another sip of beer before she was kissed again, and her wet hair fell forward, creating a curtain between her and Chris and the rest of the world. Finally they broke apart again, and she took one last sip of beer before setting it down in the sand.

She and Chris had been together since that kiss in November, on and off for seven months. More on than off, really, probably three months had been spent actually together and not in indecision, anger when he got drunk, or the fact that no, she did _not _want to go past second base, thank you very much. Their current on-state had been lasting for about a month now, a record, really, and in the times they spent alone in either one of their houses, his hands now seemed to be inching, instead of up her shirt, to the waistband of her pants, and she was slightly afraid of what was to come. She was only fifteen, and while many, like Aimi, had already gone all the way, she just simply didn't want to. And not with _Chris. _He was like…an extended fling. She didn't want to be serious with him, but she liked him enough to keep it going. And damn, was he a good kisser.

"You wanna go to the dunes?" he asked, jerking his head in the direction where many teenagers and college-aged people went for slightly more serious hookups on the beach, the craters created by the valleys in the dunes perfect for not being caught. But she shook her head.

"Chris…come on. I don't _want _to, you know that, it's way too early. Give it at _least _another half a year. Until then…go to the dunes by yourself. Seriously," she added, eyeing his swim shorts. "You might want to." His face turned dark red, and she giggled.

"Uh, I'm gonna go…" he motioned to the ocean. She nodded.

"Go! It's cold."

"Excellent." As he jogged off uneasily, she turned to Aimi, who had resurfaced. "Hey."

"Hi," Aimi said from her position with her head resting on Joe's knee. "How's Chris?"

"He's horny."

"Of course. You wanna go see if those cute college guys are still playing volleyball?" She shook her head.

"Not that I wouldn't _love _to," she said, "But I actually gotta go, we're driving back to Hartford today. But we're coming back in two days, my mom had some social thing she couldn't get out of, and my dad has a meeting. Or something." She looked to where Emily was now beckoning her. "Apparently we're going now. So I'll see you soon, then. Chris!" she called, and he turned from his waist-deep spot in the waves.

"Yeah?"

"I gotta go. See you Monday?"

"Okay! Bye, Lor."

"Bye!" She picked up her towel and her bag, and traipsed over to her parents, placing her sunglasses back on her head and following them to the Jag.

After an hour they finally arrived home, and she instantly took a shower. Standing in front of the mirror wrapped only in a towel, she looked at herself. Her hair fell to her waist in cascading wave after wave, and her eyes were a more brilliant blue in the summer than they ever had been in the past. A fading hickey was at the base of her neck from a couple days ago, and she knew that there was a second one at her jawline, but her hair covered it. Most girls in her grade flaunted hickeys like they were going out of style, and in the past she had, too, with the one or two she had received before going out with Chris, but these…well, she covered them up, because if Luke saw them…

And that was where it got complicated.

By no means were they together – a friendship of eight months did not constitute a relationship. But ever since Lance, she had been scared to tell him anything. And then they had _just _made up when she had kissed Chris, and it just…it became a vicious cycle, and now she knew that if she told him it would have awful repercussions, because there would be an enormous "why didn't you tell me before?" conversation.

It was now that their age difference was becoming a little more distinct in their friendship. While she still could slack off and just have fun, he was seventeen, going into his senior year, and had shifted into full-student mode, something she wouldn't have ever expected from him. He didn't have the highest of goals, the University of Chicago being his reach, but he wanted to _go _to college, which was more than she could say for some of his friends who she now knew fairly well. Her, on the other hand – she didn't _want _to go to college, but her parents had already decided that she was going to Vassar – why, she did not know – and for her fifteenth birthday they had presented her with a Vassar sweatshirt, notebook and coffee mug, in hopes that it would encourage her to bring up her grades from the B range to a respectable A- at the least. That wasn't going to happen. Sighing, she pulled out a makeup compact and dusted powder over the two hickeys, and then applied a smidgen of eyeliner and one clear coat of lip gloss before dropping her towel and brushing out her hair.

She went to her room and dressed in a tank top and shorts, slipping flip flops onto her toes manicured in hot pink and leaving the house with a quick, "Bye, Mom!" She walked down the road, awaiting the day when she got her own car. God, this walking everywhere was a pain. But only one more year. She turned off onto the path now-thriving with vegetation, and pushed through the tall grass to the blindingly bright clearing, pushing her sunglasses down onto her nose.

"Hey!" a loud voice greeted her, and she saw Luke, _still_ clad in flannel and jeans, standing up from his spot on the rock where he had been reading something. "You're back!"

"Just for two days," she said as he hugged her.

"Still. How was the beach?"

"Ugh. Same old, same old. Privileged teens sneak beer onto the beach while their parents discuss business. _Awful. _What about you? How's the summer going?"

"Okay. I've been doing a lot of baseball. Kinda hoping I can get a sports scholarship, since the academics aren't quite enough for U of C." She looked at his shirt, hot from just being hugged in it.

"God, aren't you boiling?" He shrugged.

"No. Why?"

"Because it's like a million degrees out."

"I get cold easily," he said defensively. She grinned and they walked over to the boulder, which was the only part of the clearing in the shade, seeing as it was to the side and covered mostly by trees. Something fell on her neck.

"Ew. What is that?" He reached over and wiped it off.

"Water. It rained yesterday." He frowned. "Hey, you've got something here…" He reached out again, wiping right over the hickey she knew was there. She winced. "Huh," he said after a minute, and then grinned. "So, fess up. Who'd you do?" She rolled her eyes.

"I didn't _do _anyone, Luke. It was just a beach thing."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, his voice casual, which was odd. Usually when they discussed any romance in her life, he got weird. But it was likewise when they discussed _his _love life – or lack thereof, really. "With who?" he asked. "Someone I know of?"

"Um…" It was now or never. _Speak now or forever hold your peace. _She took a breath. "Yeah, actually. Chris. Hayden?"

"Right. Hayden. So you hooked up?"

"Uh, yeah."

"You together?"

"Currently."

"How long's it been?" She sighed.

"Seven…months. On and off, but…" His cocky grin was fading to a frown.

"_Seven _months? Not seven _days?" _

"Luke…"

"No, it's fine. But why didn't you _tell _me?"

"Be_cause," _she said, slightly petulantly. "I lo - " _Whoa. _"I mean…Chris didn't want me to," she threw out wildly. "He wanted it to be a secret, and he think's your competition, and - "

"Whoa. Calm. It's okay, I'm not mad, just kind of confused is all. But…are you guys serious?"

"Not really," she admitted. "It's more physical, to be honest."

"Oh. So have you…?"

"_What?" _she sputtered, turning crimson.

"Well, _have _you?"

"Luke, god! If you must know, we haven't. But…god!" Then she looked at him with a slight frown. He was seventeen. She wondered… "Why, have _you?" _He stood up.

"Time to go."

"Aw, c'mon, not fair."

"I wasn't asking if you _had, _I was asking if you had with _him. _You, on the other hand, are asking if I _have, _and my answer is, shut up. It's very different. You're fifteen, I'm seventeen…there's a big difference in that question."

"You haven't," she concluded, and he growled but didn't comment back. "So, anyway. What's your deal, in that area, anyway?"

"What area?"

"Love life. I don't think we've ever discussed it, except for…Jean? Jane?"

"Janie," he said. "That was in tenth grade. Two months."

"God. You're, like, a total monogamist. That's so weird for a teenage guy."

"More than I can say for you. No offense," he added, and she rolled her eyes. "No, but…I don't go looking, you know? I just let them come to me."

"And they all come flocking, I'm sure."

"You'd be surprised. This girl…Carrie Duncan? She has it in for me. I swear, she must use sex as a weapon, she's terrifying." She giggled. "But I know when someone's right for me," he continued. "I can feel it." She sighed.

"God, I wish I was like that. I just…I don't know. I think I'm desperate," she admitted, and he patted her on the shoulder.

"That's okay. We're all desperate, at one point or another. Nothing to be ashamed of." She sighed and stood, walking to a sunlit patch and basking in the sweltering heat until she could swear that her skin was frying.

"So, no hookups for you this summer?" she asked casually. "You know, the small town gets too hot…you're standing in the gazebo, and all of a sudden you can't keep your hands off of each other…"

"_And _you stop," he said quickly. "No. Although…"

"Ooh. Although what?"

"Well, there was this girl. At the camp? The one I was counselor at – that sucked, by the way. She was a bit, uh, wild, shall we say, and she…well, she _lured _me into the woods and pounced on me. I was a good guy, though, I told her that she was a camper, I was a counselor, it just wouldn't be right…"

"_What?" _He grinned.

"I'm just yanking your chain. Let me revise: A six year old brought me to the woods to see this frog she found – fascinating, I know – and then she jumped on me so I could pick her up. Little girls really like doing that," he added. "God. I hate little kids." She frowned.

"Why? They're so _cute!" _

"Cute…annoying…same thing."

"You depress me," she told him. He shrugged, and they sat for a little while in silence. She let her eyes flit over him. Surprisingly he wasn't sweating at all, though how was a mystery to her – it was at least ninety degrees out. His hair had grown out a little from the near-buzz cut of the previous year, and flopped over his forehead in a way that she would have declared on any other guy thoroughly sexy. She _couldn't _call Luke sexy though. God, no. That'd be like incest or something. His blue flannel shirt was open over a slightly fitted grey t-shirt, and his jeans had several rips around the knee that she assumed came from climbing the tree – she had lost several really cute pairs of pants that way. He was tan, though not extremely, and his blue-grey eyes were a little greyer now, which she liked. Grey was unusual. But she was focusing on his appearance, while she should have been focusing on the fact that he hadn't _cared _about Chris – that she hadn't told him. It was a relief. She had been expecting wrath, jealousy, but none of that came, and she couldn't help but think that the two months apart had washed away whatever strangeness in that area there had been. She hoped so, but a tiny part of her was a little sad about it. Now she was left with Chris, and while that was all swell, she didn't love him. She loved Luke, as a friend. He was really an amazing guy, and she told him _everything _by this point. He hadn't opened up as much, though. Not hardly, she realized. She knew him, yes, but he was hard to crack. It took a whole lot more work on her part to get him to spill than it did for him, and that was…strange, she decided.

"I should go," he finally said, standing up. She nodded, standing as well.

"Okay, well…I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Oh, and Lorelai?"

"Yeah?"

"You got another hickey, and it's quite visible in that tank top." She blushed, looking down, and saw it right smack dab in the middle of her chest. "You might want to wear a t-shirt for a few weeks." He grinned and held out a hand in a manner of goodbye, a strange little gesture of his that she had gotten used to, and then he was off, down the path, walking rather quickly, she couldn't help but notice.


	5. Sat By The River

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Sat By The River

**Author's Note: **So from this point on things will get a little more Java-Junkie, though they're not going to get together for a _while, _sorry to disappoint you. Hopefully this will be more enjoyable!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Song and chapter titles taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

"God, you are _unbelievable!" _she exclaimed, taking the glass out of his hand and setting it down. "Can't you go one day without drinking?"

"Come on, Lor. You know I only do it on the weekends. It's not like I'm an alcoholic or something."

"Could have fooled me. I _hate _when you're drunk, Chris. And you're only sixteen. It's – it's weird, okay? I know you're not the only one, but…"

"Hey, don't get all judgmental on me. You drink plenty too."

"Not _nearly _as much as you."

"Look, Lor. I had one martini. I'm barely even tipsy." She sighed.

"Yeah, I guess."

"So can we go back to what we were doing?" She sighed but let him kiss her, kissing him back half-heartedly. But before they had even really gotten back into it, his hands were unbuttoning her shirt, then tugging at her skirt. When they abandoned their quest to get off her skirt and in stead snuck up her thigh, she stood up.

"Stop it."

"Oh, come on. We go through this every day."

"For good reason. Chris, I don't _want _to."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm freaking fifteen years old!"

"You're in tenth grade. Plenty of people have done it by now."

"I'm not plenty of people, and I _don't want to. _Okay? I'll _tell _you when I'm _ready, _just let it go for now." He rolled his eyes.

"We've been together for ten months."

"On and off. Five months, really."

"So what? It's plenty of time! If we were nineteen, we'd be doing it four months ago!"

"But we're not nineteen, Chris, we're fifteen. Sixteen. It's so, _so _different, and you don't seem to be able to get it."

"Yeah, well maybe I don't want to get it." He stood as well.

"What?" He thought for a second.

"Okay, look. The Homecoming dance is in a few weeks, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So why don't I book a hotel room? You should be ready by then…"

"God, Chris, no. It's _not _happening like that."

"Apparently it's not happening at all," he said huffily.

"Well, if you can't deal with that, then you should just leave."

"Fine." And then he was gone. She exhaled, sitting back. It wasn't a huge thing, this was maybe the sixth time they had broken up, and she was sure as anything that tomorrow he'd be back begging for forgiveness. But she couldn't help wonder if it was for the best, because the past few months, all he could talk about was sex, and their lack thereof. She stood up and disposed of the martini glass, and then went up to her room. She dropped her unbuttoned blouse to the ground and slipped out of her skirt, instead pulling on jeans and a top. She pulled a sweater over her head and went outside into the cool October air, jogging to keep warm. When she reached the woods, she peered around.

"Luke?"

"Hey." He swung down from the tree. "What's up?"

"Um…" she sighed. "Can I talk to you?" He frowned, and gestured for her to come sit under the tree with him.

"What's wrong? You okay?"

"Yeah…I don't know. It's about Chris." He stiffened ever so slightly, but nodded.

"Something happen?"

"Yeah. He...god, he makes me so mad. He just wont let it go that I _don't _want to sleep with him yet, because according to him if we were older we'd be doing it already."

"But you're fifteen."

"I _know. _He won't listen. So I told him that if he couldn't deal he could leave, and…he did." In a surprising gesture of affection, Luke put a warm flannel-clad arm around her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"You okay?" he asked softly. _So this is a best friend, _she thought. Someone who would hold you when you're sad, and when it's a guy, the holding is not at all sexual. God, was that nice, to have that.

"I…yeah," she said after a minute. "I didn't love him…nowhere close. But I do like him. And I _hate _that he's pressuring me." Luke squeezed her arm once and then let go.

"Look. You want my opinion?" She looked up at him.

"Yeah."

"The guy's a jackass. He's using you to get in your pants. If he cared about you, he wouldn't push you like that." She sighed. There it was, the cold, hard truth laid out in front of her.

"But…if that was all he wanted, why would he have kept coming back to me? For ten months? Why wouldn't he have just gone and fucked a whore?" she asked bluntly. She smiled. "But seriously. I don't get it."

"Lorelai…" he took a breath. "We've had this conversation four times in the past four months. Does that strike you as at all ridiculous?" She rolled her eyes. "Clearly this guy is just upsetting you. Hey. Look at me." She did, and saw herself reflected in his blue-grey eyes. "When I first met you, hell, you weren't _happy, _but you were better than you are now."

"But Luke, about a month after you met me I started going out with Chris. You just didn't know."

"There was a change, though. You started showing up with hickeys, or with leaves in your hair, or a heart on your hand, or a note in your pocket. You seemed distracted."

"So what do I do?" she asked finally, hugging her legs to her with her soft cashmere sweater.

"You know you have to do."

"I don't want to, though."

"Why not?" Luke asked, and then looked her right in the eye. "Is it just because he's a good kisser?"

"What?"

"Or because he'll feel you up?" She blushed scarlet.

"_Luke," _she said, glaring at him.

"Hey. Just telling it like it is, okay? Because if those are the only reasons, there are a lot of guys who will do that and who won't make you this upset. I hate seeing you like this." She smiled slightly, and rested her chin on her knees.

"Okay."

"So, when he comes back, begging you to sleep with him, you…"

"Tell him to go to hell."

"Good girl." He patted her playfully on the head, and then offered her a hand to stand up. "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"Family dinner. You?"

"Same. Well…we should go. Have fun. Happy end-of-November."

"Happy beginning-of-December." They walked down the path simultaneously. It was funny: lately, one of them would be in the tree or on the boulder, the other would show, they'd talk, and leave. It was like a rhythm. She sighed when she remembered what she had agreed to do about Chris. _Is it just because he's a good kisser? Or because he'll feel you up? _Luke's painful words echoed in her head. The part that hurt was that, it was true: that really _was _the only reason she was with Chris – he was a good kisser, and made for some nice hookups, but she didn't _really _like him. And the fact that Luke had hit it dead on just went to show how well he knew her. And how well he knew what would make her hurt.

"Hey." She looked up and saw him walking towards the boulder where she sat. It was December first, and she had a turkey hangover.

"Hi. How was your Thanksgiving?"

"Good. Yours?"

"Too much food."

"Me too. I hung out at Jason's for a while, too, he was having some sort of party."

"Oh, fun. You meet anyone?"

"No. Why?" She shrugged.

"Just that your love life's been pretty sparse the past year or…well, forever, as far as I know."

"No, I didn't." She crossed her legs and put her chin in her hands, looking at him.

"So, tell me, Luke. Who do you like?"

"Wh-what?" he asked, looking back at her.

"C'mon. Spill. You know all my dirty secrets, I know none of yours. Who do you like?"

"I…can't say."

"Why? Why not?"

"Because it…" he looked down, took a breath, and looked up. "Because it's you." She raised her eyebrows, unaware of the small gasp she had le out.

"What?" And then he was kissing her, kissing her like she'd never before been kissed, his hand in his hair, her hand on his cheek, their legs entwining, their arms wrapped around each other, and suddenly he began singing her favorite Sting song, and –

She woke with a start and a gasp, before realizing it was just a dream, and the song was coming from her clock radio, tuned to her favorite station.

"Huh," she said, one hand on her lips, her brows furrowed together. "What the hell…" she whispered, before shaking it off and standing. It was seven, so she pulled on her school clothes and tried her best to ignore the messages the dream was sending her. She barreled downstairs and sat down at the breakfast table, where her mother was looking through her date book and her father was reading the newspaper.

"Hi," she said monosyllabically, her typical morning greeting, and took a muffin, a croissant and a cup of coffee. She took a bite of the muffin and downed two cups of coffee before standing. "Bye," she said, picking up her bag and trudging out the door. She arrived at school twenty minutes early to see Chris standing by her locker. "Chris…" she warned.

"Ten minutes," he said. "That's all I'm asking for." She sighed reluctantly and nodded.

"Fine. Go."

"I never meant to pressure you, I just…I'm a guy. This is what we do. We get horny and we take our pent up sexual frustration on our girls, instead of going off and jacking off, which is really what we should be doing," he said bluntly. "And I'm really sorry. It won't ever happen again. I promise." The two halves of her brain collided. Luke's voice, telling her to dump Chris, that he was no good for her. And the other half was her hormones, begging her to kiss him. "Forgive me?"

"Go to hell," she choked out, as if the division in her mind was preventing her from speaking. His face fell, but before he could walk away she had grabbed him and kissed him, shoving him against the locker and kissing him for the longest minute she had ever experienced.

"I'm confused," he said when she released him. She took a deep breath.

"One month."

"What about that?"

"One month, Chris. I'll do it in one month." Before he responded, she had darted down the hallway to the bathroom. "What the hell did I just do?" she asked out loud when she entered the room, but she could answer it easily. Even though Luke said that Chris was bad for her, when she was _with _him, she felt so good. And she didn't want to give that feeling up just yet.

She opened her eyes gradually and couldn't tell if she was still dreaming or not. She looked around and her eyes widened. _Why am I here? _She wondered. _What did I do? _

**AN: **And no, you will not receive further information on that.


	6. And It Made Me Complete

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **And It Made Me Complete

**Author's Note: **No, I will not explain the end of the last chapter, nor will it come up for a long, _long _time, unless you pay very close attention. Just a little teaser. _But, _I will tell you that after this chapter you're all going to hunt me down with pitchforks unless you're _really, really _insightful and figure it out. Don't worry. It'll all turn out good in the end, and _please _keep reading even if you hate LC – you know I'm LL forever. 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

It's funny how when you're dreading something it comes quickly, and when you can't wait time passes as slow as it seems possible. In the month following her promise to Chris, time occasionally sped by so fast she thought she had pressed fast-forward, and other times seemed to crawl along at a snail's pace. It just went to show how mixed her feelings were.

According to Aimi, Lorelai was the only virgin amongst their group of friends, though no one except her and Chris knew. She assumed that meant that Chris had already done it, which hurt a little, because she figured he must have done it while they were apart during _one _of their many breakups. But it also felt good to know what, come the end of those two months, he would know what he was doing.

On December twenty-fourth, she woke up in the middle of the night with her senses alert. She stood up and walked to the window, and sure enough, the first snowflakes were just beginning to fall. It was three in the morning, but in a semi-awake state, she slipped on boots and a coat and went silently downstairs. It definitely wasn't the first time she was sneaking out, but her destination was less than scandalous. She ended up in the clearing, which was by this time covered with a thin layer of snow, and she cleared a patch on the boulder and sat to watch it fall. She was toasty in her flannel pajamas and coat, but her face was cold in the twenty-something degree weather, but she didn't mind. The drifting flakes hypnotized her, until she dozed off.

She woke up with snow imbedded in every crease of her clothing, her face and hands freezing, but bathed in sun. She stood up, shaking it off, and began to run, knowing that if her mother woke up and she wasn't there, there would be hell to pay. A sore ache in her heart reminded her that she hadn't seen Luke in several weeks: he didn't play softball during the winter, and it was hard for him to go to the woods every day. Besides…

But no. That wasn't an issue, it never had been, and it was stupid to go thinking about it now. In just a few days she would have slept with Chris, would have been considered no longer a virgin, and she could put those worries to rest. It occurred to her how ridiculous it was that her social status was now determined by whether she had had sex or not, because really, then she should have…_no._ She snuck through the front door and crept upstairs, dropping her coat and boots and crawling back under her deliciously warm covers in her damp pajamas. When the clock struck nine she figured it was safe to get up, so she changed into warmer clothes and went downstairs.

"Merry Christmas Eve Morning," she declared in a slightly ironic fashion as she entered the living room.

"Hello, Lorelai," Emily said calmly. Lorelai shrugged and helped herself to a muffin. Winter break started today and lasted until two days after New Years. She and Chris were meeting on New Years Eve, for…_it. _It was awful that it was so planned, so thought out, but in a way it was good. It took less worrying no her part. She sighed and stood, and went into her room to call Aimi, of all people. But the matter she was calling was not one she could discuss with Luke – _God _no – and it had to do with Chris, so Aimi was her only hope. After a few rings there was a click and a groggy,

"Hello?" She heard a guy's voice in the background, and rolled her eyes.

"Aimi. It's me."

"Oh…hey, Lorelai."

"Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"It's okay. What's up?" She could picture her sitting up, pushing the naked guy away and telling him to sneak out the window. Typical Aimi.

"Um…I wanted to talk to you about Chris."

"Sure. What's the deal with you guys? You haven't talked since, like, the beginning of December."

"First," she whispered. "December first."

"Okay…"

"Well, the thing is. Um. We're doing it on New Year's Eve," she blurted.

"Romantic," Aimi said dryly. "So why aren't you talking? Is it like a bride and groom not having sex before their wedding day for like a month, only pushed back a couple steps?"

"Sure," she said. _And that we just…don't….talk. _

"So why are you calling?"

"Um…oh, god. This is embarrassing."

"I'm not giving you techniques."

"Ew! God, no! I just – what do I _do?" _Aimi sighed exasperatedly.

"You do him," she said flatly.

"No. I mean…so, we're meeting at a hotel. Paradise Hotel, to be exact." Aimi snorted on the other end. God, was that girl a bitch. "So…what do I say when I see him?"

"You say, 'hi.'"

"Okay…what do I wear?"

"Lace bra and panties under a short _not _denim skirt and a sexy top," she rattled off as if she was asked it every day.

"And…birth control."

"What about it?"

"Should I use it?"

"He'll have a condom, won't he?"

"But…"

"They're 97 effective, Lorelai. So unless you have sex one hundred times, you won't get pregnant." This seemed like surfer's logic to her, but she shrugged an moved on.

"So, I say hi, I'm looking like a whore, and not protected. So we go up to the room, right? Then what?"

"Hmm. You can either talk, or you can just kiss him."

"Okay. And then…"

"Then you have sex. Do I need to explain that, too, or is it clear?" She made a face.

"It's clear. And what do I tell my mom?"

"That you're going to my New Years Eve party and staying over at my place." She exhaled.

"Okay. Okay." She exhaled sharply. "Thanks, Aimi, thanks…I'll see you at school."

"Happy devirginization."

"And a merry Christmas to you, too." She hung up and went to her dresser, looking through her underwear. Nothing lace, and certainly nothing slutty. She didn't _wear _slutty underwear, because until a couple months ago she hadn't planned on anyone seeing it. Of course, then she had made this clandestine decision with Chris. She shrugged and instead moved onto clothes. She really didn't want to deal with a shirt and top. Too much fumbling. So instead she laid her short black dress over her chair and then sat on the edge of her bed. It was in seven days. Thankfully, it would be over in seven days and about ten minutes.

She stepped off the bus on the twenty-seventh, wearing her new red coat that she had bought with the gift card from her mother, a wrapped package under her arm, and a determined look on her face. Her hair was gathered in a loose braid that hung across her shoulder, and her jeans topped furry boots. Her eyes scanned the small town, and then she marched into the pharmacy, straight to the counter. A slightly heavy, irritated looking man looked up as she entered.

"Hi," she said. "Is Luke here?"

"Luke!" he bellowed, his eyes not leaving hers. In a few seconds, he emerged. There was a hint of stubble on his cheek, and a red flannel shirt. _God, I never thought you knew…_ she banished the thoughts from her head. She didn't need that, didn't need random catch phrases flowing through her head now. He stopped short when he saw her.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"C'mon." He gestured outside, and they walked outside right behind each other. She sat on a bench, and he sat next to her.

"So that's your dad? He seems…nice."

"What's up?" he asked shortly, and she handed him the present.

"Here."

"What is it?"

"Merry Christmas. Just take it." He did. "You don't have to open it now if you don't want to…or whatever," she finished lamely.

"Thanks."

"You don't come anymore," she said softly after a moment of silence.

"It's winter. I - "

"You came last winter."

"Look, just…"

"What?"

"I _do _go. You're just never there."

"Funny how that works out. What's wrong, Luke?" He shot her a dark look.

"You should go."

"Luke…come on."

"No. You should go. I'll see you, if you're there when I am. Or whatever."

"Luke - "

"_What?" _he snapped, and she blinked, taken aback. There was a side of him she'd only seen on rare occasion, and never directed towards her.

"Just – Luke - "

"Stop _saying _my _name _if you're not going to follow up with anything."

"What did I _do?" _

"It's not – look. Just go, okay? Go, and let's just…forget about this."

"Forget about _what? _I don't _want _to forget about this, this has been the best year of my life!"

"Then you shouldn't have - "

"I shouldn't have _what, _Luke?"

"Nothing. Just go. _Go." _She sighed.

"Merry Christmas," she said again, quietly. She leaned forward the tiniest bit for a hug, but he sat straight, and then stood.

"Yeah. You too." And then he was gone. She sat back on the bench and closed her eyes, willing the tears to stay back. _What did I do wrong? _She wondered desperately. She couldn't stand to think that she had lost a good friend for no real reason at all. But maybe it was what he said, maybe he really physically _couldn't _come anymore…

_He came last winter._

On December thirty-first, Lorelai stood outside the Paradise Hotel in a short black dress and a shrug. Her hair fell around her shoulders, her high heels hurt her feet, and her heart thrummed in her chest. She was freezing.

There he was.

Without saying a word, he passed his arm through hers, and Lorelai and Chris entered the hotel.

"Hayden. Room for two," he told the receptionist, and handed her his credit card. They were handed a key in return. "Come on, Lor," he said, and they went to the elevator. "You nervous?" he asked.

"No," she said honestly. "Why? Are _you?" _

"Kind of," he admitted. "I don't want to disappoint you."

"I don't exactly have anything to compare it to, do I?"

"That's true." They got off the elevator on the fifteenth floor. _You're fifteen…_ she mentally punched herself, and let him lead her down the hall to room 18. _Eighteen…you're too young…_

"Okay. Let's go," she said when they were in the room, the bed directly in front of them. God, she couldn't believe that this was going to be her first time with Chris, in a crappy hotel room. But she was doing this. She had to.

"Okay." He stepped towards her, tossing his jacket to the ground and helping her off with hers. He slipped his arms around her and kissed her tentatively, then again. And then again. And then again…

She lay on her side, staring at the bedspread in her direct line of vision, unblinking. A gentle hand rested on her shoulder, and she turned.

"What?" she whispered, drawing the sheet closer towards her.

"I just didn't know that you'd…"

"Shh," she said quickly. "Don't…Chris. Just go to sleep." She kissed him quickly and turned over, pulling the sheets around her and curling her knees to her chest, letting the tears fall down her cheeks, but not allowing any sound to escape her lips. Her shoulders quaked as her grip on the sheets tightened, and the tears pooled to form a wet circle on the white sheet. She finally stopped crying, but her eyes never closed, and she stared at the bed all night, until the sunlight came in shafts through the shades and she stood up. She dressed and left, leaving Chris asleep in the queen sized bed.

"_You've reached the Danes home. No one can come to the phone right now, so leave a message and we'll get back to you."_

"_Hi. Luke. It's me. Lorelai. Look…I don't know what happened, but please just call me, okay? My number is 556-7859, so just call, okay? Please? Okay…bye."_


	7. Oh Simple Thing

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Oh Simple Thing

**Author's Note: **ducks to avoid pitchforks don't kill me…don't kill me…it'll turn out okay…

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them.

She sat on the edge of the sink, staring at the box in her hand, her heart thrumming in her chest.

_Do it._

Don't do it, if it's positive, your life will be over.

_Your life will be over if you're pregnant even if you don't look at the test. Just do it._

I can't.

_Do it._

No.

_Do it._

No.

_Fucking do it._

Fine.

She turned over the stick slowly, and forced herself to look at it. She closed her eyes, setting it down, bile rising in her throat.

"Oh, god…" She looked back at the test. Positive. Right there, in her face, a surefire positive, and now… "Shit." She wasn't even sixteen. In three months. God, this was just…

They weren't even together. He had bolted, she barely _saw _him anymore after that night just a few weeks ago. And now she was going to have his _baby? _"No," she said out loud, and pinched her thigh, hard. "No, no, _no. _Wake up. _Wake up, damnit!" _But it was no use, she knew she was awake, and surprisingly, tears flew to her eyes. God, this was so wrong. She had ruined a good thing by going and sleeping with him, and now she was _pregnant? _How long had it been since she'd slept with Chris? Three weeks? That sounded about right. But…

_No._

She needed to vent, to cry, to spill her feelings to someone. But the person who had stood as her confidant for the past year had disappeared. Sure, she saw him on the rare occasion, but Luke had drawn back. And she didn't know why.

_Oh, god, my parents._ Oh god seemed to be the only solid thought running through her mind today. _I have to tell them…my mother is going to _freak _out…and school! Oh, man, what did I _do? _How did I screw my life up in just one night? _

"Lorelai!" her mother's voice buzzed through on the ancient intercom. "Could you come down here for a moment, please?"

"One second!" she shouted down. She had to get dressed. She went to her closet in a trance, pulling out dark jeans and her U2 t-shirt. _I never thought you knew…_ she tossed the shirt back forcefully, taking instead a drab, brown long sleeved t-shirt. She hurried downstairs, her mind spinning. "What, Mom?"

"Come here, please. We need to talk about your grades this semester."

"Oh. Uh…all right." This was new. "What about them?"

"Well, your teachers all said you did better in September, October, November, but then your grades dropped."

"To what?" she asked warily.

"Cs, one D. One B."

"That's not so bad…"

"It's not so _good, _either. How do you expect to go to Vassar with Cs, Ds and Bs?"

"Well, I'm not _going _to Vassar!" Emily blinked.

"Why not?" She took a breath.

"Because I'm pregnant." Emily stared at her, and then began to laugh.

"Oh, Lorelai, you _are _hilarious!"

"No…Mom…Mom!" She grabbed Emily's hand. "I'm serious!" She stopped laughing.

"What?"

"I'm – I'm pregnant. I'm sorry."

"Who did this to you?"

"Ch - "

"_Richard!" _Emily shrieked. In a few seconds, the large man entered the room.

"What, Emily? What is it?"

"Call the Haydens. _Now." _

"Mom! Stop it! _Chris _doesn't know yet, and you're not going to tell him before I do!"

"What? What's going on?" Richard asked.

"Lorelai got pregnant!"

"_What?" _

"Everybody shut up!" she shouted. Her parents stared at her. "Let me call Chris and tell him. Okay? _Then _you can do your…whatever."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"We will have a _long _talk about this later, young lady."

"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I'll…be back." She went upstairs and sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the phone. She hadn't spoken to Chris for three weeks. And now she was supposed to call him and tell him that he was the supposed father of her child? In a second she was dialing his number, clenching the sheet in her fist.

"Hello?"

"Chris. Hi. It's me." She heard him shift.

"Lorelai? What's going on?" _Lorelai. _He had always called her Lor.

"I need to talk to you."

"Why?"

"I just…could you sit down?" She heard something rustle.

"Okay. What do you want?" he asked stiffly.

"I…okay. Um. So, three weeks ago…"

"Yeah," he said quickly.

"And now I'm…I'm…"

"What?" he asked, his voice a tiny bit softer.

"I'm pregnant, Chris." Dead silence. "Chris?"

"Yeah," came a hoarse whisper. "Are you – are you sure?" _Are you sure you want to do this? _

"I'm sure. Chris, you don't have to…I mean, I don't need you to do anything. Okay? I just wanted you to know. But I can't ruin your life along with mine, that's not – that's not fair."

"No…it's okay. I just – how did that happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was safe, Lor."

"I know, but…"

"Oh."

"Yeah. I should go. You gonna be okay?"

"I don't…know. But we'll talk later."

"Okay." There was a click, and she placed the phone back on the receiver. She lay back on her bed and sighed. _Wow. _Her entire future – high school, college, success – had been snatched away in an instant. You couldn't be a high school dropout and go to college, or be a success. But strangely enough, this new, open future appealed to her. She could start over. Go where no one knew her, where she wasn't _that Gilmore girl, _where she was just Lorelai. With a baby. Lorelai with a baby. Without Chris. _God, _without Chris. The last thing she wanted was to marry him.

She bit her lip to suppress the tears of – of what? Here she was, with a blank future ahead of her, a baby inside of her, and two furious parents waiting for her. And a best friend MIA. Well, that was really why she wanted to cry, because Luke…she needed to talk to him. But he wouldn't talk to her, and she didn't know what she'd done to make him hate her. _You're fifteen…_

She was going to go. She hadn't been to the woods since she'd slept with Chris, and now she was going to go. Maybe he'd be there. Maybe he checked every day that she wasn't there. Maybe…

So she pulled on her coat and shoes and hurried downstairs.

"Lorelai! Where are you going?"

"Out," she said.

"We're not done talking about this – Lorelai!" But before Emily could finish, she was out the door and running. She slowed when she reached the path and walked quietly down it. If he was there, she wasn't going to make him hide or something. She entered the clearing and her heart sank. Nothing. _"Argh!" _she shouted, and went to sit stubbornly on the boulder. Before she knew it her throat had closed up and she was crying – sobbing, really, big gasping sobs shaking her body. It hurt so much, this whole mess. She was all emotionally involved now, and – and – _I don't want you to get hurt…_

"Stop it!" she shouted out loud, though she was talking to her brain, the thoughts, the flashes of that night where everything had changed coming back to her. So much hurt, and it had all gone so wrong. From so good to so bad. Amazing how fast things change.

"Oh." She looked up from her hands to see Luke standing there in a green cargo jacket. He turned.

"No!" she shouted. "Don't _go, _Luke. Please." He turned to look at her.

"What?" he asked as though she were an annoyance he was trying to get rid of.

"Luke…I haven't talked to you for so long, and I need to."

"You can't." She blinked.

"Why? What happened?"

"Things changed. Okay?"

"But - "

"What's so important, Lorelai, that you can't discuss it with anyone but me?"

"I slept with Christopher," she said in a small voice. His face clouded. "And now I'm pregnant." She looked up, and he was walking down the path. "Luke, don't go!" she shouted after him, her voice cracking, but he didn't come back. "Luke…" but he was gone, she couldn't even see him anymore. She had gone and messed it all up, everything. He hated her.

"Hey. Aimi." Lorelai poked her head around Aimi's locker.

"Hey!"

"You're back. You missed two weeks of school, what happened?" Aimi rolled her eyes.

"Mono. I'm back now. So…how was it? Give me details."

"Okay," she sighed, figuring she'd get to the whole I'm-pregnant deal later. "We didn't really say anything when we saw each other, but we went up to the room and I think I said something like 'Let's do this,' and so we kissed, and…" she paused. "And he took off my shirt, and I took off his, and then he took off my pants - "

"You were wearing _pants?" _

"What? No. I was wearing a dress. Oh. So…I mean, he took off my dress, and I took off his shirt and pants and stuff, and then we kissed on the bed, and then…we did it," she finished.

"How was it?" She shrugged.

"Fine."

"The first time isn't always the best." _But – _

"Yeah, I've heard."

"So what's up with you guys now?"

"Well…your whole you-have-sex-100-times-and-you'll-get-prenant-three-times theory is completely off, Aimi." She frowned.

"What…?"

"I'm pregnant. With Chris's baby."

"Oh my god. Oh, my god, that's insane. _God, _how weird that on your first time you get knocked up, but I've done it like a _hundred _times and I've never gotten pregnant?"

"Yeah, well."

"Did you tell your mom? What'd she say? Did you tell _Chris? _Did he freak out? Omigod, have you_ seen _him today? How awkward!"

"I told my mom. She flipped. I told Chris. He got very quiet. I haven't seen him yet," she answered each question quickly. "But Aimi, you _cannot _tell _anyone. _Seriously. I'm waiting until I have to, or if then, you just – you _can't, _okay? O_kay?" _

"Okay, okay, chill. So you're, what, three weeks along?"

"Exactly three. My mom's making me go to the doctor today after school, though, he'll give me a due date."

"Well…let me know what happens." _Yeah. Right. _

"Bye, Aimi." She turned down the hall and bumped onto Chris. "Oh…"

"How are you?" he asked stiffly, as if his tie was strangling him.

"I'm fine. I'm going to the doctor today…are _you _okay? Because…"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine."

"Okay…okay. So I'll see you later."

"Okay." He was off, pushing past her down the hall. She ignored Aimi's knowing look and sighed. Everything was going to change.

"All…right," the doctor said, sitting down in front of Lorelai, who was now out of the paper robe and in her street clothes. "So. Lorelai. What is said in this room stays in this room, all right?"

"Okay."

"So, how long have you been sexually active?"

"Um…like a month?"

"And how many times have you had sexual intercourse?"

"Just once." _I know you've never done this before…_

"When, approximately?"

"New Years Eve."

"All right. Well, here we have your estimated due date."

"When?"

"August thirtieth. But wait…" He frowned. "Well, this is judging by what we saw in the sonogram. But you say that you have had intercourse just the one time, on New Years…which would mean that it should really be more like September thirtieth…" he looked up. "Are you sure it was New Years?"

"Yes," she said forcefully.

"All right, then. We'll have to take another sonogram, but…yes. All right. If you say New Years, then it must be around the end of September. Well. Any questions you have for me?" He seemed uncomfortable, this Dr. Jackson. She supposed he didn't deal with knocked up fifteen year olds that often.

"Um…yeah. A lot of them. So…when am I going to start showing?"

"In about two months, but you'll really show in more like four." _Damnit. _Two months didn't buy her much time.

"And – is the baby going to be okay? Because I'm so young…will that affect it?"

"No. You have a woman's body and reproductive organs, so your baby will be fine. Any other questions?" _You have no idea how many other questions I have. But I doubt you'll be able to answer them. What's my life going to be like now? Is everything going to change?_

"No. That's all right. Thank you."

"All right, then, I will see you in…one month for a checkup."

"Okay." She stood up. "Bye."

Her fingers flew across the now-familiar number, and after a few rings she heard the now-familiar message.

"Luke…God, I'm sorry, okay? I'm so, _so _sorry, I never should have…done any of that. With Chris. Or – yeah. But just please, _please _talk to me. I need you right now, and it sounds stupid and needy and whatever, but I do. I miss you. I want to see you, talk to you. So just…please call me. Again. I won't call again, but…_please. _Bye." In a few minutes the phone rang again, and she leapt at it. "Luke?" Silence on the other end. "Hello?" After a long pause, she heard a familiar voice.

"No. It's…Chris."

"Oh. Hi."

"Look, Lor…do you want me in this? Because I don't have to be. Really." The _I don't want to be _was clear as if he had said it out loud.

"Chris. No, you don't have to do anything if you don't want to, I really don't care. Whatever you want." She heard him sigh.

"Okay, then. Can I just be…I mean, do I have to – no. Okay. Here's what I'll do. You take care of the…baby…raise it, whatever, I'll help if you want, and it'll know I'm his dad and it'll see me occasionally, but that's it. Because I just – I can't – I'm sixteen, Lor."

"I'm fifteen," she said quietly.

"Yeah. I know. But you don't have a choice, and I do. I – I'm sorry."

"No, that's…fine. But I gotta go. I'll see you, Chris."

"Bye." There was a click. After a second, it hit her. She was all alone in this. Her parents were angry, Aimi didn't give a shit, Chris was out, and Luke…he was gone. MIA. Vamoosed. God, this hurt so much…she wasn't supposed to be alone in this. She wasn't supposed to be fifteen when she went through this.


	8. Where Have You Gone?

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Where Have You Gone?

**Author's Note: **DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN...DRUMROLL PLEASE! Here it is! Sorry this chapter took so long to get up, but its one of the most important ones. To really get it, you might want to reread the very end of chapter 5 and look over 6 and possibly 7, only because this will explain all the confusing stuff, and cheer you up about the fact that she slept with Chris. I hope you like it, because I think it's pretty good. 

And – okay, so _apparently _I didn't do as good a job of being stealthy and all in the last chapter with the August 30th business and all. But anyways. This reveals all. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story are from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

Lorelai sat calmly on her bed, a candy bar balanced on her eight-months pregnant stomach. It was August 28th, the very end of the summer, but this year she wasn't going back to school. Her parents had decided that under no circumstances were people going to find out that their sixteen year old daughter was pregnant. In June she had been five months pregnant and showing just a little, easily covered up by large clothing, but over the summer she had sprouted and was now baring a stomach with a huge diameter. _I have one more month, _she told herself, because she really _did _need to repeat it to believe it. _One more month. _But just as she told herself this, she experienced a wave of pain. _Okay. Maybe not one more month. _She sat up straighter, one hand on her stomach, surprisingly calm considering that she had probably just gone into labor. But no more contractions came, and she lay back warily, her brows furrowed. She reached over for a pregnancy book, flipping through it rapidly, but she didn't find what she was looking for and received a paper cut as a reward.

She looked back at the television, but glanced down several times, slightly freaked out. Just as she was relaxing, thinking it was just a false alarm, her muscles tightened again, and she winced. She waited until it passed and stood up clumsily, clunking downstairs and writing a quick note to her mother and father. She threw herself in the car and began to drive, pushing the thoughts that wouldn't stop flooding her brain away.

_The confused due date. New Years Eve…November 25__th__…Chris…Luke…_

Thankfully the third contraction didn't come until she was at the hospital and seated in a wheel chair filling out forms. In a few minutes a nurse pushed her to a room, and a little later her doctor came in.

"Well, Lorelai," he said, sitting in a stool at the end of her bed. "It seems we have a problem."

"What?" she asked through clenched teeth as he began to rub jelly over her stomach. In a few seconds an image popped up on the monitor.

"Judging by what you told me, that you had intercourse on New Years Eve, your baby should not be due for another month. But by this sonogram and the fact that you are in labor, your baby is fully developed at nine months. So either you're a medical marvel, or there's something you're not telling me. Now. Would you like to tell me?" She closed her eyes. It was all flooding her mind, memories coming out of their safe, locked boxes, images bombarding her with such speed that she felt she couldn't stand it. Before she knew it, she was deep in her memories of just nine months earlier.

"_One month, Chris. I'll do it in one month."_

_That day passed quickly, but her nerves fluttered the entire time, and something else. She couldn't quite place it. It was unpleasant, a strong feeling of angst, maybe, and another feeling…but what? She couldn't tell. She sat through lunch with Aimi and the usual crowd, did calisthenics in gym class in her shorts and blouse, and finally at the end of the day, packed up and went with Aimi to the Stockman house, where the pre-Thanksgiving party was happening that night. She changed into her oversized, cut and braided U2 t-shirt and a fitted pair of jeans and applied the heavy makeup favored by her friends, braided her hair into two long side braids, and then entered the fray of teenagers. They were casually dressed like she, all with cups in their hands of beer or vodka or whatever they could get their hands on, and they were all bouncing along with the music being blared over the sound system. She declined a plastic cup offered to her by Michelle, and pushed her way through the crowd, trying to see Chris so she could…what? Avoid him or talk to him? The first one seemed more likely._

_God, what had she gotten herself _into _agreeing to sleep with him in one month? Why? Why would she do that? She had _talked _about this with Luke, she had agreed to dump the guy, but no, instead she had agreed to _sleep _with him? Well, that was that, though, wasn't it? Now it was agreed, and in about one month she would have been devirginized by…Chris. _

_God. No. No, no, no, no, no…Chris could not, _could not _be her first. No. It was just wrong. She never thought she'd be so firm on that opinion, but every cell in her body was screaming no. She couldn't, no…_

_But she had agreed. She'd agree when she knew it was wrong, he was the wrong person…_

"Lorelai?" she blinked. The doctor looked at her, a concerned look on his face.

"What? Uh – sorry. Could I be alone?" He frowned.

"All right, then. Press this button here if you need anything." With one last concerned look at her, he left the room, and she sat back to the soft beep of the monitor next to her.

"_Lorelai Gilmore!" _

"Oh boy." The sharp tap of heels on tile made her look into the face of an extremely upset Emily Gilmore.

"Lorelai! _I was in the house. _You did _not _need to drive off and leave me a _note _telling me that you were going into _labor _when _I was in the house. _For God's sake, Lorelai, you just _ask me to drive you!" _

"Emily, calm down," Richard said as he entered the room, out of breath. "Hello, Lorelai." She drew her knees together self consciously.

"Well? Are you in labor?" Emily demanded.

"I – yes."

"You're a month early."

"Well, _apparently _not."

"I don't understand."

"I don't _want _to _explain." _

"Emily, perhaps we should go sit down." Lorelai grumbled a loud _argh! _And closed her eyes to the madness.

"No, Richard! We need to talk about this!" Emily said in a high-pitched almost-shriek.

"_Not right now," _Lorelai hissed. "Could you either leave or just _shut up?" _

"Young lady, you do not talk to your mother like that," Richard said angrily.

"Well, I'm sorry. How about I contract _your _uterus?"

"All right, Emily…let's wait outside," Richard consented, and the two elder Gilmore went out to the waiting room. Lorelai looked around the small room. Maybe 10 by 10 feet, with a TV in her direct line of vision, a monitor by her side, and the strange bed-seat type thing she was reclining on. _Ouch…_she squeezed her eyes shut, and ignored the aching in her chest. She knew _exactly _what it was aching for. Luke, her friend, her – her friend. God, did she need him right now. Imagining him sitting behind her, letting her squeeze his hands, telling her it would be okay…feeling the soft flannel of his shirt…the idea of that, and then the fact that she didn't have it, would never have it again, made her eyes well up. Well, that and her raging hormones.

_The party lasted a long, long time – until at least two, she heard, but she left far before that. However, before the party ended, she experienced, or rather witnessed, several things that really set her mind. The first were the looks Chris was sending her from across the room. Knowing, expectant…and somewhere mixed into that, a typical teenage guy, I'm-gonna-get-some look. That disgusted her. The second was when Chris came _up _to her, clearly wasted._

"_Hey, Lorel…" he slurred. Lorel? That was a new nickname._

"_Chris…"_

"_Can't wait for next month, huh? That's gonna be seeeeexy." She stared at him for a moment and then turned away. A drunk, blithering idiot. This was who she was going to lose her virginity to? This was who she was supposed to call her first love? No. No, he was _not _her fist love. All of a sudden, the third thing happened, and it wasn't so much as an event as a realization._

_And before she knew it, she was out of the party in the rain, on the bus, surprisingly calm, in a sort of separate state of mind. She was going to do this. She had to, this was different, and it had always been there, she just hadn't been able to see it right there in front of her. But now that she looked at it, it was so blatantly obvious, and she couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before…_

"Honey?" She looked up to see a friendly looking nurse standing by the bed.

"Yeah?"

"Is there someone I can call for you? The father of your baby, perhaps?" She shook her head. _That _was just going to make everything so much more complicated.

"No, thanks. My parents are in the waiting room."

"Would you like them to come in?"

"_No," _she said forcefully, and then, realizing her tone, said, "I mean, no thanks."

"How are your contractions?"

"Some drugs would be nice."

"Well, your doctor should be in soon, and we'll see about that."

"Okay."

"Some ice chips, maybe?" Oh, this lady was so nice. And how she wished she had been in a state where she could appreciate this.

"Um…okay. Yeah. Thank you." When the nurse left the room, she laid her head back and stared at the ceiling, drifting back into the memories that she had been holding back from herself for months.

_She stood outside the house that she had never been to before. She had gone to the supermarket, asked a certain Taylor for the Danes address (which he had given to her quite grudgingly), and then she had walked quickly down the dark street at about eleven o'clock. There was no car parked in the open garage, but a light was on inside the house. She rang the bell once. Then twice. After a little bit, there was a click, and the door opened. There he stood, in a red flannel shirt that she had seen so many times before. But this time it was different._

"_Oh. Hey, Lorelai. What are you doing here?" She took a deep breath._

"_I told Chris I'd sleep with him. But all I could think of was that there's only one person I want to be my first. And that's you."_

"Here are your ice chips, honey." She was handed a small Dixie cup filled with chips.

"Oh, thanks."

"The doctor will be in here in a few minutes to check you out, see how long until it's time to push."

"Okay."

"Would you like to watch some television, maybe?"

"No, I'm okay. Thanks."

"All right. Just take some deep breaths, it'll help ease the contractions. Oh, here's Dr. Jackson. He'll do your exam." Through her semi-awake, semi-in the past state, she saw Dr. Jackson coming at her with some sort of really intimidating tool, and she closed her eyes yet again. She _really _didn't need to see this.

_Luke stared at her for a long moment, something in his face registering – joy? Confusion? Acceptance? And then he stood aside to let her in. Now her heart was really going. She looked around briefly. No one else seemed to be here, and the only light on was at the end of the hall. Without saying a word, they both began to walk towards the light. When they were in his bedroom, he shut the door. She glanced around. A messy bedroom, with a double bed in the corner with blue sheets, a floor strewn with clothes and books and baseball cards, and a couple of sports trophies on his dresser._

"_Are you sure?" he said finally. She nodded with determined eyes. _

"_I've never been more sure of anything." She could see the battle raging in his mind as clearly as if he was talking out loud. He loved her, yes, but she was young…and their friendship…and he knew she was a virgin, but she was fairly sure he wasn't…but…_

_Before he could protest, she stepped forward tentatively and stood on her tip toes – he was a good five inches taller than her – and brushed her lips against his, half expecting him to push her away, but instead he surprisingly kissed her back, and it was just…perfect. Warm, tender, gentle, loving…everything a kiss should be, and nothing she had ever felt before. When they broke apart, she looked at his face warily, wondering if she had just wrecked a good friendship for nothing. But instead – _

"_God, I never thought you knew. _I _barely even knew."_

"_Neither did I."_

"_But…"_

"_Don't but."_

"_But you're fifteen. I'm eighteen. You're too young…"_

"_If I wasn't sure of this, Luke, I wouldn't be here." They looked at each other for a moment, and then kissed again, and she noted that his hand went to flick off the light switch behind her. She was glad, because it would hide her slightly terrified and mostly ecstatic expression. _

_She couldn't believe this was happening. She _had _to be dreaming. It was probably just another one of those dreams where she met up with him and they kissed…but this time he didn't start singing when her alarm went off, and the kisses were _real, _and _perfect. _It was a different side of Luke – she had never seen the boyfriend side of him before – but it was so, _so _familiar, so perfect, so…amazing._

"All right, Lorelai," Dr. Jackson said, taking the nasty tools away and standing up. "You're about eight centimeters dilated, so your contractions should be coming fairly frequently now. Are they?"

"Are they…?"

"Coming frequently?"

"Oh. Um. Yeah."

"Well, then, I'll be back soon to check you again. I'd say it shouldn't be more than an hour. Would you like me to tell your parents?"

"Okay, but…don't tell them to come in. Actually, tell them that I do _not _want them to come in when I'm giving birth."

"Will do. Is there anyone you _would _like to be with you?" _Well. Yes. But there's less than zero percent chance you can get him to come. _

"No thanks. I'm all right."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Thanks." So this was how it would be. She'd be there. Alone. Well, that was the most depressing thought she'd ever heard.

_Within about ten minutes they had moved to the bed, were sort of sitting against the wall, their arms intertwined, kissing. In the silent room, each kiss and each rapid breath was amplified, and instead of being gross or awkward it was…even better, somehow. She still was having trouble actually believing that this was happening, but every touch of his hand on her arm or her cheek, each time their lips met, she was jolted back to reality, to the moment. _

_As they kissed his fingers unraveled her braids, playing with her hair and caressing the base of her neck; it sent shivers up her back. After a long time, she didn't know _how _long exactly, they were lying down, their kisses more intense, their breaths coming more quickly, each touch intensified just by the fact that it was with _him, _that it was _Luke _touching her, _Luke _whispering wonderful things in her ear…_

A knock on the door roused her. Dr. Jackson again. He came in and did a quick exam, and then looked at her expectantly.

"Well, Lorelai, you're ten centimeters dilated. It's time to go to the delivery room." She squeezed her eyes shut against the now almost constant waves of pain and nodded as they moved her to a gurney and proceeded to push her out of the room, past her parents and down the hall.

"_Luke…" she whispered, one of her hands resting on his neck, the other entwined with his, their fingers doing a little dance together, turning and locking together._

"Come on, Lorelai, you have to push!"

"I am," she cried, surprised that she was crying uncontrollably, and not because of the physical pain. Her emotional pain cancelled that out.

"_I love you," he said into her ear, and another chill ran through her body. The good kind. "So much…so long…only just realizing it…"_

"_I know."_

"Just a few more pushes." She gave another gasping sob, wanting desperately for Luke to be there, with her, coaching her. It hurt too much to do this alone. Too much.

_And then it was happening, and it was _so _sweet and _so _perfect in every aspect. So gentle, so loving, so passionate, so soft and just…nothing she had ever expected, but everything she had ever wanted._

"I can't," she sobbed. "I can't. I need Luke. I need Luke…"

_Long after it was over, they lay together, their limbs entwined, kissing, whispering love in each others ears, until she fell asleep there in his arms, the warmth of his arms against hers, his legs on hers…it was just a perfect moment._

"Lorelai, you _have _to push, you could lose the baby…"

_She dreamt of him the entire night, dreamt of him telling her he loved her, her saying it back…and she was sure that at least some of the times he actually was whispering it to her._

"I _am, _I _am," _she sobbed, and finally she pushed.

_Her sleep seemed to last forever, and she drifted in and out of it, every so often checking that he was still there, afraid he would leave, and she knew he was doing the same._

"Just one more…"

_But she finally fell into a deep sleep, a content sleep._

"And…that's it. Congratulations, Lorelai. It's a baby girl."

_She opened her eyes gradually and couldn't tell if she was still dreaming or not. She looked around and her eyes widened. _Why am I here? _She wondered. _What did I do?

The nurse placed the baby girl in her arms, and identical eyes to hers, big blue orbs, stared up at her.

_There was no trace of Luke or what had happened the night before except for the clothes strewn across the floor and the still slightly warm dent where he had laid next to her._

"Do you have a name for her?"

_She waited there for a long time, staring at the wall, until she saw a note on his pillow._

"Yes," she whispered. "Lorelai."

"_I'm sorry," it read, and was signed, "Luke." And then, "P.S. You can climb out the window."_

Finally she let out a long sigh, and held the warm baby in her arms. _Her _baby. And…whose else? Finally it was time to confront it, time to admit to herself what had happened, whose baby this _really _was.

She had given birth on August 28th.

But if it was Chris's baby, it should have been a month later.

But the doctor said that this was the right due date.

_And I was safe with Chris._

_I wasn't safe with Luke._

So now she had to admit it to herself, admit that everything that she had thought to herself in the last nine months had been ambiguous, that she had been in denial about sleeping with Luke – that she didn't want to believe she had thrown her friendship with him away for one night – one _perfect _night.

**A/N: **So, there you go. Hope you liked it, I might go back and edit it in the future, but please give me some constructive criticism. Liked it? Hated it? Let me know.


	9. I'm Getting Old

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **I'm Getting Old

**Author's Note: **Just a quick note about the last chapter…a sort of silly thing…but in my head this is on air, like, on television, except for the thoughts and stuff…well, anyway, if you really want to get teary-eyed (like I do when I listen to certain songs…which a certain Elpo can attest to…) you can imagine – okay. So you know in the last episode of the second season of Grey's Anatomy where Meredith and McDreamy are doing the McNasty and it's like all montagey and stuff? That's what the switches between her and Luke and her having the baby would be like, to some really sad song (What's Left Of Me, anybody? That cheesy song makes me well up every time. LOL Po). SO anyway, rambles over. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

"Hey, baby," Lorelai said soothingly to the two-year old in her arms, rocking Rory gently from side to side. The toddler's giant blue eyes were slowly drooping shut, and once Lorelai could hear the steady breaths of her baby and feel them against her shoulder, she set her down gently in the wooden crib.

"Lorelai," she heard Emily's whisper from outside the baby's room, and she turned. "Is she asleep?"

"Just." She went to the hall with Emily and they shut the door. "What is it?" she asked, taking the soft burping cloth from her shoulder and twisting it in her hands.

"I wanted to talk to you about something that happened today." She sighed.

"What?"

"Well, I was at the store."

"The store…?"

"Yes, I was at the store and I ran into someone."

"Who?"

"Well, I ran into Christopher, Lorelai." She frowned slightly, running a hand through her slightly dirty hair: Rory had a cold the past week, and she'd showered less than usual.

"And…?"

"He asked me how you were, how the baby was, and then he said that he would like to see her."

"_What? _Mother, no. No, no, no…"

"Lorelai, she's his baby. He can see her if he wants to."

"But - "

"I told him to come tomorrow. He'll be here around noon. Did you know that he's at Berkeley? In California? He's a freshman."

"How nice. Mother, he _cannot _come see Rory. I don't want to see him. I_ can't _see him. You don't even - "

"I don't want to argue about this with you, Lorelai."

"_Mom! _The last time I saw Christopher was June, graduation of sophomore year. He didn't come when I had Rory. He didn't come for _either _of her birthdays, he's called _twice _in the past _two years, _and besides, he's not even - " she stopped short.

"Not even what?" Emily asked curiously. "Lorelai, not even what?" She sighed, looking to the side at a speck on the otherwise impeccable wallpaper.

"He's not even Rory's father," she mumbled. Emily stared.

"What? What did you say? Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, you answer me _right now. _Do you – are you – are you actually saying that there was _more than one boy?" _

"Yes, mom, okay? There were two boys. There were two boys, and Rory _is not Chris's child."_

"Then – how – I - " Emily took a breath. "How do you know, and who _is?" _she asked in a professional manner.

"I know because of when I had Rory. And you don't know him."

"Well, what's his name? Maybe I know his parents."

"Believe me, Mom, you _don't _know his parents."

"Why? Who is this boy?"

"I – Luke Danes?" she offered, her face flushing as her throat tightened. It was the first time she'd ever said it out loud, except to Rory. She couldn't believe she hadn't told Chris in the past two years that Rory was not, in fact, his daughter.

"Well, I don't know his parents."

"I know."

"This is – _what do you expect to tell Christopher, _exactly, Lorelai?" she demanded, flustered.

"Well, I won't tell him anything."

"Why not?"

"Because – mom. Look. I'm eighteen and a half. Rory's just turned two. I'm an adult, I – I have no incentive to live here anymore. If I don't move out now, when _will _I? I can work, move in somewhere else…"

"And just where exactly do you expect to move in? Do not say with that Duke of yours, Lorelai…"

"I'm not moving in with Duke – _Luke, _actually. I don't even…never mind. I'll figure something out, but I don't _want _to _live _here anymore."

"This is awfully unexpected. Here. Come downstairs. Let's see if I can talk some sense into you." Lorelai rolled her eyes but followed her mother downstairs. They sat opposite each other on the couches in the sitting room, and Emily poured herself a glass of wine. "Would you like anything?"

"No. Thanks."

"Now. Lorelai. _Why _this, all of a sudden?"

"It's not all of a sudden. It's been a long time coming, this Chris coming thing just sealed the deal. Look. I had an idea, okay? You won't approve but…I can do what I want, I'm eighteen, mother. I could go to a town – a _small _town. And I could find work, get a place to live, or rent, and just…start over. I need that. I've been living in this shadow the past three or so years, and I need to start over, make a new…_me. _And I know you won't approve and you won't allow it, but you don't have that choice, mom. I'm moving, I'm – I can't live here anymore. I'm really sorry." Emily looked down at her wine glass, and finally looked up.

"Well, I suppose that's what you'll do, then," she said resignedly. "Would you like help looking for a job? I could ask the girls in the DAR to - "

"_No!" _she said forcefully. "I mean – no. Thank you. But I need to do this on my own." Emily nodded, and sighed.

"So when are you moving?"

Lorelai balanced Rory on her right arm as she surveyed the small potting shed. A donated mattress in one corner, Rory's crib in the other. Her singular suitcase next to her bed, and a neatly folded maid's uniform sitting on an old table. She walked to the mattress and sat down, sitting Rory down and letting the toddler practice her sitting skills – which were improving rapidly these days.

"Welcome to our new home, kiddo," she said with a sigh, kicking off her shoes and lying down, pulling Rory to lie on her stomach.

"Mama," Rory said, one of the few words she knew how to say. She then proceeded to recite a string of syllables. "Daga fama paga loru mama sapa dada," she declared. "Dada," she repeated. And though Lorelai knew that she had no idea what the word meant, she closed her eyes and sighed.

"No. No dada, Rory. Sorry, babe, but we got the sore end of that deal."

"Mama," she said again, and then promptly fell asleep. Lorelai let her hand gently caress Rory's few soft locks of dark brown hair before she laid her in the crib and turned off the light. She methodically took off her clothes and put on her sweatpants and t-shirt, brushing out her brow hair that now hung to her shoulder blades, and lying down. But for hour after hour she simply stared at the ceiling cracking with old paint, the bird's chirps keeping her awake, along with the thoughts that, for the past three years, she had suppressed day after day, only to come back and haunt her at night.

It took months to get accustomed to what she, as a grudgingly pampered girl, considered a brutal routine, but eventually it because methodical. Wake up. Put Rory in day care. Make beds, tidy rooms. Tidy inn. Take a two hour break. Tidy rooms. Turn down. Go to sleep. She learned to turn down corners, how exactly to fold towels, and how to use a vacuum, and she felt so…_good. _Like she was actually doing something for herself, which she _was. _She was slowly getting money – not a lot of money, but enough that, by her painful calculations, she figured she could buy a house in a year or so, maybe.

The inn – The Independence Inn – was situated not far from Stars Hollow, but in the sixth months she had been there, she hadn't once gone into town. But now, on her birthday – April 20th - where she didn't have anything to do, she put Rory in a carrier, threw on her jeans and coat, and walked the mile into town. She didn't have a car, though she supposed a car would have to come before a house, but it was nice for April – balmy, mild.

She wasn't going to go _in _to the pharmacy. Heck, she doubted Luke even worked there anymore. Besides. She was nineteen, he was – what? Twenty-one? Yes, twenty-one. She knew him well enough to be able to figure that out. He was in college, probably, or in a different town. But when she walked down the quiet but bustling street across from the pharmacy, she stopped at the corner and frowned. Gone was the sign proclaiming the pharmacy's log, instead were glass windows, a sign with a coffee cup and the word _Luke's _scrawled across it in type, and inside – there he was. Standing at the counter, looking down at something, passing a plate over the counter…

Her eyes widened as she turned abruptly, sitting down on the nearest bench and pressing a hand to her mouth. _Breath, _she ordered herself. _Breath, goddamnit. It's been four years. Get over yourself. _But it wasn't _herself _she had to get over – it was him. And despite the block of time since she had been fifteen, it still hurt, so, so much. Luke…Luke had been her first. Her first friend. Her first love. Her first time. And her first heartbreak. It would have been so much easier if Rory _was _Chris's. Maybe she would be over Luke now. Well – no. But it wouldn't hurt so much to look at him, wouldn't make her well up when she looked into Rory's eyes and saw Luke's staring back at her. And it was silly, because it _had _been four years, and she _was _older now, but…she couldn't help but feel that that chapter of her life wasn't over yet. That it had still to be written, because Luke was Rory's dad. And eventually, though she could not – _would not – _tell him now, or in the near future, he would have to know. And when he did…

Well. She couldn't think about that now. She looked down at Rory, who stared up at her.

"Mama?" she questioned.

"What is it, sweetie?"

"Sad?" In the past few months, Rory had begun forming sentences, learning new words, and every time she did it sent a jolt of pleasure to Lorelai's heart.

"A little, babe."

"Why?" the two-and-a-half year old demanded.

"Grownup stuff."

"Oh." Rory jerked her head up and surveyed her surroundings. "Where?"

"Stars Hollow."

"Why?"

"To see…to see your daddy."

"Daddy?"

"No."

"What?"

"Kid, you're making _me _regress." She stroked a lock of hair between her fingers – hair that was getting longer every day, maybe even three inches by now. And soft as a feather.

"Daddy?" Rory persisted. "What Daddy? What's Daddy?"

"No Daddy, Rory."

"But _what's Daddy?" _she asked, scrunching up her face as it turned tomato red.

"The opposite of Mommy."

"_Daddy!" _she shrieked, and though Lorelai was sure that Rory had absolutely no idea what a daddy _was, _she blinked back unexpected tears.

"I'm sorry, Ror. But no Daddy." She looked back at the diner, and just as she did, Luke looked up. She whipped her head around so fast she almost got whiplash, and stared straight ahead. She could just _picture _him looking, confused…_is that her? _And then deciding no, for whatever reason. When she dared another peek around her shoulder, his back was to her, and she stood, hurrying back to the Independence Inn.

"_Lorelai, it's your mother," _Emily's voice came through on the crappy answering machine. _"I wanted to confirm if you are coming over on Friday night for your birthday dinner. Please let me know so I can inform Malinda whether she should prepare dinner for two or three. Thank you." _She punched the erase button and called her mother back, sighing.

"Hello?"

"Hi, mom." There was a pause.

"Well, hello, Lorelai."

"So…I guess I'm coming to dinner on Friday night."

"Oh." Another pause. "Well, all right. Will Rory be joining us?"

"If you want."

"Yes. Bring her. Very well, then, is that all?"

"Yeah, that's all."

"Goodbye, Lorelai."

"Bye, mom."


	10. And I Need Something To Rely On

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **And I Need Something To Rely On

**Author's Note: **Not much to say here…hope you're enjoying it. Last chapter was sort of a filler, this one will have more action.

Oh, actually, one thing. You might notice that there is no Sookie in this story. Nor will there be one in the future. Don't get me wrong – I _love _Sookie. But on the show, Sookie is Lorelai's best friend, but in this fic Luke is her best friend.

And happy 7th season on DVD!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

There was a mad clamber and a bunch of shrieks, and then the entire kindergarten class came dashing out, running to their respective parents at 2:00 on the dot.

"Mommy!" Rory shrieked, a smile on her face.

"Hey, Rory," Lorelai said, bending down to help the six year old on with her coat. "How was school?"

"Good good," she said. "We played with fish."

"That sounds fun. Did you and Lane do anything fun today?"

"Yeah. We fed the fish."

"Cool. Oh, babe, you got ketchup on your brand new white shirt!"

"Sorry," Rory said, looking down.

"It's okay. Come on, let's go." As they hurried down the flight of stairs to the lobby of the elementary school, Lorelai asked somewhat giddily, "Hey, guess what."

"What? What?"

"Our house is ready."

"_Really? _House! House!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down. "House! House! House! House!"

"Yeah, so…do you want to go see it? Everything from the inn, I moved today, and I have the car."

"House! House!" Rory continued to shout as she bounded out the door and to the car. "House! House! House!" Lorelai laughed and got in the driver's seat, hearing Rory's continued cries of, "House!" as she got in the back. She started the car and proceeded to drive through town, as she had done many times the past three years. She rarely walked the streets, though, or went into stores. She shopped at the major strip mall, she ordered in. She didn't _go _to _town. _Sometimes she wondered why she even picked to work so near to Stars Hollow, but the answer really was right there in front of her. She had left home, having convinced Emily to let her live on her own, as if her parents weren't there with a sizable source of income, and she had driven the only place she could think of: Stars Hollow. Of course, she then realized how _idiotic _that was and turned back, and on the way back passed the Independence Inn, decided it was now or never, and had ended up living in the potting shed for three years.However, despite the absolutely no contact with Luke that could have drawn the conclusion that he didn't matter to her anymore, as she passed the diner today, she couldn't help but let her eyes slide to the right, before yanking them forward and continuing to the house.

"House!!!!" Rory screamed as she tumbled out of the car and raced towards their very own house.

"Yeah. House! You wanna see inside!"

"Yeah!" Lorelai fumbled with the key from her pocket and opened the door. Rory's face fell.

"Okay, so I know it's not that great yet." A tad of an understatement. The walls were painted white, the floors nice and everything, but…it was sparse. A couch. The built in fridge and kitchen set in the kitchen. Rory's bed in her room. Lorelai's own bed upstairs. A bathroom. But that was the extent of it. However, Rory quickly brightened, as little girls tend to do when faced with a less-than-perfect situation.

"Fun!" Rory exclaimed, and proceeded to run all over the spacious house.

"So, we'll get some furniture," Lorelai called as she went to the kitchen and sat down at the small table. "And food…and plates and stuff." Rory came into the kitchen.

"Okay."

"That's your room." She pointed to the door, and Rory ran in. Lorelai sighed and rested her head in her hands. So, they did it. They had a house, a car, a life. She was part-time manager at the inn. But every year around this date, she would look at the calendar, her eyes would drift to November 28th, and she would just get all depressed all over again.

It was the 24th.

Four days…

She sighed. November 28th was creeping up, and soon after that would follow New Years. New Years Eve really shouldn't have bothered her anymore, and it _didn't – _she was just dwelling on it, for some reason. Lorelai had relied on Emily to tell Chris he wasn't Rory's dad, but apparently her mother had forgotten, or deigned not to, because the New Years that Rory was three she got a call from Chris. Chris had told her that he was mature now, he regretted what he had said in the past, and he wanted contact. He said he'd been thinking about it because of the date, and he was wondering if him, Lorelai and Rory could get together at some time. She had told him that he wasn't, in fact, Rory's father, and faced an insane amount of anger, and then silence. But since then she hadn't heard from him at all, and she figured she was probably just thinking about him because New Years wasn't that far away after the infamous anniversary of..._that night._

She shook her head to clear it and, for some reason, the strangest words popped out of her mouth

"Hey, Rory?" she called. "You wanna go into town?" Rory poked her head out.

"We never go to town."

"Yeah…I know. Do you want to?" She didn't know what she was thinking, really. Maybe just to look at him. And then they could explore the town? Which they did occasionally, but rarely.

"Okay!"

"But change your shirt!" She went up to her own room, with her bed and her dresser full of clothes, and looked in the mirror. God. What a difference from that girl of six years ago. Her hair fell down to her shoulders, wavy. Her eyes, still big and blue, looked…older. More mature. Gone were the sloppy t-shirts and short skirts, replaced by work clothes – a jacket and a skirt.

She sighed and dropped the work clothes to the ground, pulling on instead jeans and a simple long sleeved t-shirt, tying her hair up and throwing on her jacket. She took a deep breath and went downstairs to the car with Rory.

* * *

She stopped about a block from the diner.

"What?" Rory asked. Lorelai looked to the backseat.

"Hey, Rory."

"Yeah."

"See that diner up there?"

"Uh-huh."

"You know who owns that diner?" Rory peered at the sign.

"Luke?"

"That's right. Rory…do you know who Luke _is?" _

"Diner man!" she proclaimed after a moment of thought. Lorelai smiled.

"Luke's your daddy, Ror." Rory's eyebrows knit together.

"But...you said I don't _have _a daddy," she reminded her.

"Yeah. Well, you do."

"How?"

"What?"

"Well, Lane's mommy and daddy live together, Mark's mommy and daddy live together, but I've never _met _my daddy, so how is he my daddy?" Lorelai raised an eyebrow.

"Honey, we'll have this discussion in ten years, when you understand that…being a parent doesn't mean you live together, I guess would be one way to put it." She chuckled. "Anyways…do you want to - ?" Her eyes widened, as Rory had already jumped out of the car and ran full-kilter towards the diner. _"Rory!" _She hurled herself out after her and chased her right into the diner. She stopped up short in the doorway, the door clanging shut behind her, and her heart pounding a mile a minute, thankful Luke was looking at Rory and didn't see her.

"Daddy!" Rory exclaimed, sitting on a bar stool. Luke leaned down.

"What?"

"Daddy!"

"You looking for your dad, kid?" Rory rolled her eyes at this juvenile question.

"_No. _You - " she pointed. "Are my daddy!" Luke frowned.

"No…I'm not." He sighed. "Did Kirk put you up to this?" Rory shook her head.

"No, he didn't. And _yes you are!" _she insisted. "She said so, she said so!" Lorelai saw the exasperated look on Luke's face slowly turn to concern, or maybe...panic? The same panic any guy would experience, she figured, when informed that he was possibly a father.

"See, kid, I _can't _be your dad, that's not _possible."_

"I know, I know. Because you don't live together, right?" Rory asked, as if this made perfect sense. "But _she _said that _you are _my _daddy."_ Lorelai could see Luke's brows knitting further together, and she wanted more than anything to get the hell out of there, but she couldn't just leave Rory, she _had _to stay, but…_oh, man._

"Look. Kid. How old are you, four?"

"_Six."_

"Six!" he exclaimed, incredulous. "I can't be your dad. No way."

"Are you Luke?"

"Yeah."

"Then you're my daddy!" He shook his head.

"See, if I was your daddy – _dad – _that would mean that I was eighteen when your mom had you, that would mean…" he trailed off, and Lorelai felt like her heart was about to burst through her chest it was beating so hard. His eyes left Rory's and drifted up to meet her own.

And the world stopped.

Not literally, of course, but it certainly felt like it. God…those blue-grey eyes piercing her own – curious, shocked…angry? Or was that confusion? She swallowed. She hadn't seen him – _actually _seen him – since she was fifteen. And now…now…

She could see his eyes searching her face. Oh, he knew who she was, of course he did, but…she saw him taking in the changes. She looked a little bit older, a little more worn. Much more mature. She knew she wasn't the fifteen year old _he _knew.

_Say something, _she told herself, but her mouth wasn't working. Her _brain _wasn't working. _Say something, damnit. _But he beat her to it.

"Lorelai…?" He couldn't _still _hate her, could he? It had been six years, for chrissakes. But he sure wasn't being friendly.

"I - " she shook her head, at a loss. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "Rory…Rory, sweetie, let's go." Noting the distress on her mother's face, Rory hopped down from the stool, coming to stand beside her. "I'm sorry, Luke, I – this was _not _how I – I'm so sorry…" she ushered Rory out the door and followed her out, ignoring the "Wait!" she heard from inside. "Go ahead to the car, sweetie," she said.

"But - "

"_Get in the car!" _she practically shouted, and once she was safe in the car, Lorelai walked quickly around the back of the diner to the alley there, and, when she knew no one could see her, doubled over, gasping. _I cannot be fucking hyperventilating. This is ridiculous. _But she was. _Breathe. Breathe. _Finally her muscles relaxed, and she slid down to sit, concealed by a large garbage can. She pressed her hands against her eyes, trying to suppress the tears, but they came anyway, in big gasping sobs that racked her body, and then just when she thought she was done crying, her thoughts went back to the look on his face, and ricocheted down a pathway of memories she had tried so hard to block out_...h__is hands on her shoulder, on her cheek ,her side...their lips meeting again and again...I love you..._ She hadn't cried about it since she had given birth to Rory, and…six years of repressed tears seemed to be quite a lot.

After a long, long time, she became aware that someone was standing over her, and she tensed, slowly looking up. She wiped a gloved hand across her eyes.

"I don't know what to say," she finally said. He offered her a hand, and she pulled herself up.

"Are you okay?" he asked gruffly.

"Luke…I'm so, so, sor - "

"Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded. She sniffed the last of the tears away and wiped her eyes one last time.

"Wh – what?"

"Why didn't you _tell _me, Lorelai?" The sound of her name on his lips almost made her go back to hyperventilating, but she stood tall and ignored it. "You told me it was _his. _You told me that it was Christopher Hayden's baby, and now that little girl comes in here and tells me that – she – _what the hell was that, Lorelai?"_

"I _couldn't _tell you!" she fired back, surprised at herself. He stepped back.

"What?"

"Luke, you – you _hated _me! You _never _came anymore, not once, and even before you knew I was pregnant, god…you hated me so _much! _And look, _I _couldn't even admit it to _myself _that it was yours, until I actually _had _her – Rory, that's her name, cute, right? – and by then you already hated me so much for sleeping with Chris, and I – how do you think I could tell someone who wanted me dead that he was father of my kid? How do you think it would feel when he said he wanted nothing to do with it? Because that's _what _you would have _said. _God, you _still _hate me! It's been six years, and you can't even _look _at me!"

"You wanna know why?" he shot at her. She blinked. There was a why. "You were…my best friend. And I know, there was stuff, but we never – and then you – and then we - " He took a breath. "Sorry." He started over. "Look…after we – after we - "

"See, you can't even _say _it," she spat.

"You _came _to my _house. _You told me you loved me, you always had - "

"Hey!" she exclaimed, completely defensive. "I did _not. _I didn't prance in there and tell you I _loved _you! _You did!"_

"What?"

"Oh, okay shall I paint you a picture?" she demanded. "We were on your bed, kissing, you were playing with my hair. You told me you loved me, that you always had and were just realizing it, and _then _I said I loved you too. It was _so not me who initiated that!" _He glared at her, and continued.

"_I _told you that _I _love you, and _you _did too, and it wasn't new news, but we'd never really…admitted it. And then we – we – oh, god damnit! And then…I couldn't bear that we'd ruined our friendship for that."

"Didn't it ever occur to you that instead of it being that we'd ruined our friendship, we could have started a relationship?"

"_It was too much!" _he shouted, and blinked, surprised by himself, she thought. "Do you think we could go from best friends to boyfriend-girlfriend? Hell, no! Our friendship was _way _too intense for that, it would have been a step _down! _And you were fifteen, I was eighteen – what kind of fifteen and eighteen year olds can get together and expect it to last forever? I didn't want to risk that! I don't even know exactly why, but I just couldn't…_do that. _And then you came to town, and I was a jerk, and then you told me you were pregnant with _Chris's baby. _See, by that point I'd figured we could maybe be okay, eventually, but then you slept with _the very guy you didn't want to sleep with, _and it just…how could I be with someone I loved carrying someone _else's _baby? How? If you had just told me it was mine, I would have…" She was looking down at the dirt ground, biting her cheek, but then she looked up.

"You wouldn't have done anything," she said quietly. "Say you wanted to forgive me all you wanted, but if that were really the case, you wouldn't be looking at me like that right now!" He took a few deep breaths, as if trying not to kill her. "Look, I didn't _tell _Rory to go in there. I was just telling her who her dad was because…well, have you looked at the calendar lately?"

"Yeah, I know. I _know. _Jeez."

"Luke…" she sighed. "Look at us. It's been six years, and we're exactly the same."

"Yeah. We are. So if we're exactly the same, what I don't get is why you're playing the victim, and acting like I hurt you, when really, it's the other way around!" She stared at him, taken aback.

"What are you _talking _about? I never hated you! _That's _the difference! After that night, you wouldn't even _look _at me, and I wanted – I wanted to - " she sighed. "Luke…it wasn't like you usually hear about, you know? Usually, if your first time is a one night stand, it sucks, but…it didn't suck. It was just…perfect, and if had been with anyone else, it couldn't have _been _so perfect, so amazing." She ignored his reddening face and went on. "And that was because we were _such good friends. _It just seemed like we should – should - "

"I couldn't _be _your _boyfriend, _Lorelai."

"I didn't want you to be my boyfriend," she said indignantly. "I just wanted my friend back!"

"How could you think that was _possible _after what we did?"

"Because, Luke! We were so close! How could it just _end _like that, our friendship? I've never had a friend like you!"

"Yeah, well, neither have I." He sighed. "Look. I – I didn't hate you because we slept together." She felt a tension in her stomach. That was the first time he had admitted it, out loud, to her. The first time they'd ever discussed it openly. "I hated you because you slept with Chris. And everything else just contributed to that." She sighed.

"Okay."

"But you're saying I hurt you...maybe I did. Okay, I know I did, and I'm sorry, because that must have…sucked." _Understatement. _"But what you did to me…"

"What did I do to you?" she asked. She didn't deny she hadn't hurt him – she probably had, maybe as much as he had hurt her. But he was making it sound like _she _had done something, when it had been both of them…

"If you had just waited. I mean…you were fifteen, Lorelai. I was eighteen. Isn't that illegal? But…it just felt wrong, and if you had waited until we were older, when we could think straight…"

"That's not the _point, _Luke." It was odd. They were actually having a civil discussion? All right, _civil _might have been a bit of a stretch. But she had missed talking to him _so much…_ "The point was I couldn't let Chris be my first, and when I realized that I realized it had to be _you. _There. I said it." They were both quiet. Then –

"Can I ask you something?" With out waiting for a response, he continued, "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" He shifted uneasily.

"Why'd you sleep with him?"

"Oh." She thought for a moment, delving back into the depths of her fifteen-year-old mind. "I…this is hard," she finally said. "Harder than you might think." Something changed in his face – concern?

"You don't have to - "

"No," she said quickly. "I have to. Luke…when we slept together, I didn't think of it as a one time thing. I thought of it as the start of something…fabulous. But then I woke up, and you were _gone, _and I waited for so, so long, and you never called me. _I _called _you, _I tried to connect, but you wouldn't. And – well, maybe it wasn't the same for you, because I wasn't _your _first - "

"You were," he interrupted, with a confused frown. She blinked.

"Really." She chuckled a little. "Could have fooled me. But…well, then, I don't know. You just rid yourself of a good excuse, I guess, but for whatever reason, you disappeared from my life, and it just…it just _hurt so much. _I can't even put it into words, and I sound all sappy and mushy gushy, but it's true. I mean, be_fore _we'd slept together? If you had pulled back like that, it _already _would have hurt. But after…I mean, I was all emotionally involved, you know? So…I was just _really, really _sad. I needed an escape, I guess, and somewhere in my twisted mind I was thinking, _well, you already agreed to sleep with Chris. Maybe it'll help. _It did nothing of the sort." She shrugged sadly. "So…there you go." They were silent for a while, looking at each other.

"Well, that's all in the past now," he finally said. "But what about…Rory?"

"Yeah. Rory."

"Are you _sure _she's mine?"

"Believe me, I'm sure."

"Do you want anything? Money?"

"No, I don't want _money!" _she said indignantly. "I don't want anything, it's matter if _you _want anything. Do you want…contact? Or something?" He sighed heavily.

"I don't know."

"Okay…"

"I'm sorry. I don't know. I mean, I don't know her at all, and it'd be weird, because of us - " he gestured between him and Lorelai. "But…maybe. I don't know. I will, though." She sighed.

"Okay, that's fair, then." She smiled. "She's a good kid."

"She looks it."

"Bit of a shocker, though, isn't it?"

"I'll say."

"Luke…"

"What?"

"Are we okay? You…me? I know it's weird, because…I don't know. Do you think we could ever be friends again? Because… I don't know, I'm, like, frozen at fifteen, you know? I mean, I'm older, maybe more mature, but since I was fourteen, you've been what my life…revolves around. Not in a creepy way, but you were my best friend, and do you think…eventually? We could - ? Friends? Or…?" she trailed off, meeting his eyes.

"Look, I honestly don't know," he said.

"Luke." He looked up at her. "I miss you so, so much…as a friend, and I - I still lo - "

"Stop it!" he shouted. She blinked. "Don't _do _that! You want to be friends, you can't go saying stuff like that!"

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were going to!"

"But...I _do!" _

"No, you don't!" he insisted vehemently.

"I _don't? _Since when do you decide what I do or don't feel?" He sighed and shook his head.

"No, I mean...you _think _you do, you _think _you still feel that, but you don't. You're just stuck in the past. We have to get _out _of the past."

"I don't know what you mean..." she said after giving it a little thought.

"What I mean is...that you think you still love me - there, see? I'm _not _afraid to say it - but you don't, it's just that you're seeing me after a while and its bringing up...painful memories, I guess." She stared at him, astounded. He had plucked the thoughts right out of her head. _She _hadn't been able to tell if she still loved him or not, and she hadn't been able to for years now.

"Okay...okay. So what now? What do we do now?"

"Just…this is a lot, okay? I have a _daughter _now? And you…god, I haven't seen you since you were fifteen, and you _still _make me forget whatever I'm about to say. I just…I can't take back six years just because of today. And I'm not saying I _won't – _I'm saying, give it time." She sighed.

"I can do that." They looked at each other, having reached some sort of understanding. They were still hurting, and he was a little in shock…and there were still mixed feelings floating around, exactly the same as when they were teenagers: was it love, or friendship? With Luke, she could never tell. "Anyway…I should go," she finally said. "Rory's waiting in the car."

"Okay." And then he did that thing – the hand out, touching her elbow, a slight smile - as he turned to walk away.


	11. So Tell Me When

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **So Tell Me When

**Author's Note: **Let's all celebrate that Luke and Lorelai are talking again! Yay!!!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

Rory squeezed Lorelai's hand as they walked down the streets of Stars Hollow.

"It will be okay, Mommy," she said in her little-girl voice, and Lorelai smiled faintly. "Are we going to see Daddy?" she asked, and she nodded.

"Yes. We're going to see Daddy."

"Yay! Daddy!" She clapped her mittened hands and bounced on the tips of her shoes. Lorelai pulled her coat closer around her and shivered. God. This was so _weird. _She was going to see the father of her daughter who didn't _know _his daughter, who still probably hated his daughter's mother, and who she hadn't spoken to for the past six years. Yet they were being civil, acting like adults. It was just so _strange. _It was like, all it had taken to get her to start acting twenty-two and _not _fifteen was to see the guy who had kept her in the past all these years.

They stopped outside the diner. Rory looked at her mother questioningly, and Lorelai stared inside the diner. Now what? Should they just waltz in? Should _he _come out? And what would they _do? _

Luke looked up and rolled his eyes when he saw them standing right outside the diner.

_Is it okay to come in? _she mouthed, and he gave her a confused expression.

_What? _He mouthed back. She pointed to her and Rory, and then to the diner, and then shrugged. He nodded and gestured for them to come in. She bit her lip and smiled a little at him, and then opened the door.

"You are just as absurd as you were when you were fourteen," he informed her as she and Rory sat at a small table. She tried to think of a snappy comeback, but all she could think of was, _And you're just as sweet as you were when you were sixteen, _but that seemed entirely inappropriate. So instead she shrugged off her coat and put Rory's on the back of her chair.

"And hello to you, too," she said, looking up at him as he passed them each a menu. "So, I have to ask, I'm sorry. _Why _exactly do you own a diner?" He sighed.

"It's a long story, don't feel like getting into it now." She frowned.

"Okay. Well..." she flipped through the menu. "Ooh."

"You wanna order?" he asked gruffly, adjusting his baseball cap. It was hilarious. He still wore his flannel shirts and baseball caps, as though he was still sixteen.

"Um…yeah. I'll have a…ooh! A cheeseburger with fries! And coffee." He stared at her for a moment and then rolled his eyes and wrote it down. "Rory, sweetie, what do you want?"

"I'll have the same thing," she said sweetly. Luke put his pad down on the table, hard.

"I'm not giving you coffee. I'm not giving her coffee."

"Oh, she doesn't want _coffee. _God. What kind of mother do you think I am?"

"The kind that lets her kid order a heart attack for lunch," he grumbled as he wrote down their orders and moved away. Lorelai exhaled.

"Daddy doesn't like cheeseburgers?" Rory asked, her eyes wide with dismay as if the world was coming to an end.

"It's okay," she said. "He likes tofu." Rory made a face. Lorelai's eyes drifted over to the counter, where Luke was passing plates, writing things down, putting money in the cash register. As if he did it every day. Which he did, but she never could have pictured him working in a _diner. _It was so…un-Luke. He looked up and caught her looking at him, and smiled just the tiniest bit. She blushed and looked away. "I'll be right back, Rory," she said, and stood, walking to the counter. "Hey."

"Hi…" he said warily, as if afraid of her. She could see why – after all, their blow out behind the diner had been just four days ago, and even though they had reached a sort of understanding, it was hard to tell where they lay now – what with him shooting her down when she tried to tell him what she felt, even if she had no plan to act on it – but he _was _right, she didn't _really _love him…_God, you have _got _to stop dwelling on that, _she told herself. She sat down on a bar stool and let out a slight squeal of surprise as, when she pushed against the counter, she went spinning around. He grabbed her arm to steady her, and she grinned sheepishly, and then sobered.

"So, how does this work?" she asked quietly so no one else would hear. He bent down to her level – a good five inches lower than him.

"How does what work?"

"I mean…are we supposed to be parents? Like, together?"

"I don't know."

"Don't you want to talk to Rory?"

"She seems busy." Lorelai looked over her shoulder to see Rory engaged in conversation with an awkward looking young man.

"Who _is _that?"

"That is Kirk."

"No!" she exclaimed. "You're kidding me. _That's _Kirk?"

"The one and only. So, uh…" he glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "How've you been?" She blinked, surprised.

"Well. Okay. _That's _how we're doing this."

"What?"

"Being…friends. God, how weird." If she had been an outsider, Lorelai would have found this amusing: she was speaking in utterly astounded yet comical tones, a smile playing in her eyes, and though she made the statement a bit of a joke, the words were true.

"What are you off about?"

"Never mind. You were asking?"

"How've you been?"

"Ah. I've been good. I work at the Independence Inn, the part-time day manager."

"Really? Never would have pegged you for that."

"Never would have pegged _you _for _this." _

"Fair enough."

"I'm sorry, I need to know – tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me why the hell you own a diner! I mean, it's great, it looks…great, but – you were going to go to college, weren't you? You were so excited about it." He sighed.

"Well. I got into Bennington and Northwestern - "

"Wow. Those were your top choices, right?" He grinned a little, and she figured he hadn't guessed that she'd remember that.

"Yeah. But…well, my dad died the January of my senior year." She stared at him, her mouth open.

"I – oh my god, Luke…I'm so sorry!" He shrugged.

"It's okay…I'm okay." She couldn't help but think, though, that if she had just _waited _until they were older, she would have known his dad was dead…and like he'd said – what fifteen and eighteen year olds could make it work? If she had only waited until _she _was eighteen, then – but, again, as Luke said, it was all in the past. "But so I turned his store into a diner, and…well, here we are."

"Well, you always did like to cook." He nodded.

"And…Rory? What's she like?" He was looking over her shoulder at the six-year old, whose cheeks were still red from the November chill, and was now looking around the diner with her big blue-grey eyes.

"She's perfect," she said honestly. "Smart as anything, happy, silly…" she looked up at him. "You know she has your eyes?" He nodded.

"I noticed. They're bigger than her face." She grinned, but then said, more seriously,

"I'm still confused, about what we _do _now. I mean…do you want this to be a weekly thing? Or do you want to work out some sort of custody arrangement, or do you want all of us to do stuff together, or what?"

"Weekly thing sounds good," he said. "I mean, it's not like we're divorced, and custody is for divorced people. And besides, I couldn't take her away from you." She was sure the relief in her eyes was apparent, even though she doubted he'd been serious. "Anyway."

"I should get back to the table," she said.

"Yeah. Okay." _That went well. Surprisingly well, _she thought as she sat down. In a few minutes two plates and a mug were set down in front of her and Rory.

"Enjoy your premature death," he told them, and they ignored him and dug in.

"This is good," Rory decided after eating half her cheeseburger. Lorelai took another sip of coffee.

"Yeah, I'll say. This is _amazing _coffee."

"Can I try?" Lorelai passed the cup to Rory, who took a long sip.

"_What do you think you're doing?" _Luke demanded from across the room.

"Nothing!" she exclaimed innocently, taking the cup back. Rory rolled her eyes.

"He's silly," she declared.

"Yeah," Lorelai said softly, looking back over at him, and then quickly back to her food.

"That _is _good coffee, though."

"Seriously good."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Luke stood between them, staring at Rory's plate. "How the hell did she eat that entire thing? And all the fries! _And _the garnish!" He glared at Lorelai. "You helped her," he accused.

"I did no such thing. She takes after me. Massive appetite, no weight gained." He shook his head in disbelief and cleared away their plates. "More coffee, please?" He shot her a look of death.

"You give it to Rory, you die."

"I won't. But could I get it to go?" He looked at her suspiciously and then came back with a to-go cup. She looked at Rory.

"Sweetie, you wanna go ahead to the car? Mommy and Daddy have to talk about a few things."

"Okay." Rory happily pranced back to the car.

"Mommy…and…Daddy?" Luke asked in a pained voice.

"Oh, get over yourself, Luke you are _so _a Daddy." She walked to the counter and sat on a stool.

"So what exactly do Mommy and Daddy need to discuss?" She shrugged.

"I don't know. It's kinda fun…when Rory's here we're all adult, but now that she's gone we're like teenagers again. Don't you think?"

"Sure…"

"So, I told you how _I've _been. What about you? Other than your dad…"

"Well." He thought for a second. "The diner…and – oh, Liz had a kid. He's about Rory's age, I think."

"She was seventeen?"

"Must be something in the water."

"No, but…how've you _been?" _He shrugged.

"Fine. Better, lately." She blinked in surprise and smiled.

"Me, too." She sighed. "So, I've decided what we're going to do."

"And what's that?"

"Well, one's a you-and-Rory plan, and the other's a you-and-me plan. Don't freak out, it's nothing weird or anything. So, the you and Rory plan: what if I drop her off here a couple days a week after school? She could hang out. She really likes it here." He shrugged.

"Sounds good. But what's the you-and-me plan?" he asked warily. She rolled her eyes.

"See, I knew that's what you'd think. But it's a plan to keep us from killing each other, help us grow up, and to know each other as adults. Because don't, really. I don't know you as Luke, the twenty-four year old. I know you as Luke, the eighteen year old."

"Okay…"

"So, one night a week we have dinner."

"One night a week. Dinner. You. Me."

"And Rory. God, you must think I _am _insane."

"Okay."

"And." He looked up.

"And…?" she sighed.

"I want to go back to the woods." He exhaled, blowing the air out of his mouth like through a straw.

"Ah."

"You don't have to, I'm just saying…I miss it, you know? It was our…place. Besides, when was the last time you went?" He thought.

"When my dad died, I think."

"See? The last time _I _went was…January 1st, after…everything." He nodded. "So, I'm going to go. Not a lot, maybe not immediately…but I will, because I love it, and…yeah. Just telling you."

"Okay. So…should you go? You seem to have a tendency to leave Rory in the car." She smiled.

"Okay, I have a confession. You're going to hate me." He tensed a little.

"What…?"

"I have to work today and I usually don't have to on Saturdays but the other part-time day manager called in sick and I don't have a babysitter because the one I usually use decided to go cross country to stalk the Ramones on tour, and I really _wanted _to go with her but I couldn't leave the inn…well, I _could, _because technically I'm supposed to get a week off, but how much stalking can you do in a week, and what was I supposed to do with Rory without a nanny? Ironic, right?"

"I sense that you are getting off topic?"

"Yeah. But…so I don't have a nanny and I kind of relied on Rory's cuteness to get you to agree to watch her for a few hours…I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" she pretended to cower.

"Sure," he said. She blinked.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure, I'd like to. She can just…color or something, right?"

"Sure. Color. Thank you so much, Luke." She stood up to go get Rory, and then decided to go for it. "Hey. Luke." He looked up. "Happy 28th." She grinned at him and he grinned back – a small grin, but still, it wasn't a shun, wasn't shock that she mentioned it, wasn't anger. They were going to be okay, she was sure of it, she thought as she went to the Jeep. They hadn't come all this way for nothing. And they really _were _getting back on the friends-track, albeit a tad awkward occasionally.

"Come on, Rory," she said once she got in the car. "You're going to stay with Daddy for a little while, okay? So go back inside. Oh, here." She handed Rory the cup of coffee. "Just a few sips, I'm not getting you addicted _just _yet." Rory smiled and sipped it.

"_I see you!" _Luke shouted from the doorway.

"Man. That guy has eyes in the back of his baseball cap. Okay, well, run on inside. Bye, baby."

"Bye." Rory hopped happily out of the car and pranced into the diner, and Lorelai laughed at Luke's semi-terrified face. She had a feeling that even though he was older, he was really the same guy. He had the same sweet little shy smile that he tried to conceal, the same way that he looked at her…a mix of exasperation, amusement and…love? But now she couldn't tell if that love was love of friendship, or love of…love. And which did she _want _it to be? If it was the love of friendship…well, it'd be simpler. Stop all the complications that seemed to be arising, and they could go back to what they knew how to do – to be friends. They didn't know how to be more than friends, but…they did know how to love each other – to be _in _love with each other. But were they still?

The funny thing was, now that she thought about it, from the very start of their friendship, what she had with Luke had been so different from what she had with any other friends. True, he was a _real _friend, he really knew her, but…well, she was sure now that they had always loved each other, a mix of friendly love and romantic love, and they just hadn't been able to distinguish it. So when they had finally admitted it, it had felt so familiar.

* * *

The diner was fairly empty when she got back. Rory was sitting at the counter with her little legs swinging back and forth from the stool. She seemed to be in animated conversation with Luke.

"Sometimes," she was saying, "I can read like a book in two days. But if it's a _really long one _it takes three. Sometimes. And everyone in my class is jealous because I'm the only one who can read, but _Mommy _calls me a smartie, and she says that it's a _good _thing. I think it is too," she added.

"You…can read," Luke said incredulously. Lorelai laughed as she walked to the counter.

"Yes, Luke, your daughter reads."

"She's six!"

"And she reads."

"Wh – how – _okay, _then."

"Did you tell Luke what you're reading, sweetie?" she asked Rory.

"I'm reading Anne of Green Gables!" Rory announced. "It's really long and hard and I've been reading it for two weeks and I'm only on page 40 but it's _really good!" _

"_I _read Anne of Green Gables in fourth grade," Lorelai confided in Luke. She then helped Rory off the stool. "How'd it go?" she asked him, pulling Rory onto her lap on the stool.

"Good. She's very chatty."

"Well, she likes you." He smiled, pleased, she could tell.

"So…she'll come here after school this week?"

"Yeah. Definitely. Would you like that, Ror?" Rory nodded her head emphatically. "Then that's settled. C'mon, kiddo, let's go." Before she left, she looked back at Luke. "Pshh. We can so _totally _do this. We rock as parents." He grinned, and she waved goodbye before Rory pulled her out the door.


	12. You're Gonna Let Me In

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **You're Gonna Let Me In

**Author's Note: **Hope you're enjoying this now that it's taking a more positive Java Junkie angle. Chapters 5-8 were definitely the most angst-y, it'll be happier from now on, don't worry. 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Story and chapter titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

_Loud. _That was Lorelai's first thought upon entering the town meeting which Luke so frowned upon, yet he seemed to go every week. She figured it was a reputation thing – keep his growly outside up by saying he hated all town events, but she was sure he really loved them. The townspeople were bustling and shouting and pushing and finally there was a loud bang and everyone settled into their seats. The man standing behind the podium seemed vaguely familiar, and Lorelai realized that he was Taylor Doose – the same one she had asked directions from six long years ago. Well, _he _looked exactly the same.

"People, quiet, please!" he shouted, and the noise settled down. Rory giggled next to Lorelai, and Luke, sitting directly across the aisle, rolled his eyes dramatically. "Now. We have an important issue that has been brought to my attention by Miss. Patty." The large woman seated on the right of Taylor smiled proudly and preened, and Luke leaned across the aisle to whisper in Lorelai's ear,

"That's Miss. Patty – the gossip. Well, she and Babette."

"Hey!" a husky-toned woman seated behind Lorelai said indignantly. Then she shrugged. "Oh, who am I kidding?"

"What's the problem, Taylor?" Luke called out.

"Well, I was getting to that, Lucas. Now. As you know, the snowfall this year has been astronomical. Just last week it was up to five feet of snow. Now, the roads leading to and from Stars Hollow are icy and extremely dangerous, people. Apparently the snow got deferred to us and away from all the _other _parts of Connecticut, as _they _are having lovely sunny brisk weather! Anyways. I do realize that, in the past, we have dealt with icy roads and moved on, but this year there have already been two car accidents, and there have been fatalities!"

"What?" someone exclaimed.

"Oh, Taylor, it was two squirrels," Miss. Patty said off-handedly.

"Nonetheless, they could have easily been pedestrians. So. I propose that we raise funding to install heaters under the roads to melt the ice and create a safer environment for the good citizens of Star's Hollow."

"How much would that be, exactly?" a man in the back asked.

"Oh…well, that's not important right now…"

"Yowza!" Miss. Patty exclaimed, looking over Taylor's shoulder.

"How much?"

"_Too _much!"

"Taylor, no one's dead yet, the snow'll pass in a month – let it _go!" _Babette shouted. Taylor sighed.

"All in favor of spending, yes, a sum of funding on _safe passage _to and from Stars Hollow?" Several hands were raised. "All against?" The majority of people raised their hands. "Very well, motion denied. Now, onto the next order of business…ah, yes, there is a clarification that must be made immediately. Let's see…" he flipped through a few pages. "Ah, here we go. Lucas Danes, you are called to the stand?"

"To the _stand?" _Luke spluttered. _"What stand?" _

"Er…just come stand here."

"I'll stay right here!"

"Very well, then. Now. Over the course of the past two months, Stars Hollow citizens have noticed a chain of events that have lead them to question the honesty and openness of our small town. Just last month, there was a _loud _argument behind the diner, and over the last month there has been a frequent reoccurrence of that young lady and that little girl in your diner." Lorelai blinked in surprise.

"What is this?" she asked Luke, staring at Taylor's finger pointing right at her.

"Taylor, why do you care who goes to my diner?!"

"I _don't _care, this is a matter of clarification. What exactly is your relation to those women?"

"Women? Rory's six!" Lorelai said indignantly.

"Luke?"

"Taylor, this is ridiculous - "

"_Luke! _Direct avoidance of courtroom interrogation by the town selectman violates section E part 7 phrase - "

"Taylor!"

"C'mon," Lorelai said encouragingly, softly so no one else would hear. "You can tell him, it's okay. I don't mind." Luke sighed.

"All right, then, the little girl – Rory – is my daughter."

"_What?" _Babette exclaimed behind them.

"Rory? Could you attest that this true?" Taylor asked. Lorelai stared at him, incredulously.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded. "She's _six! _And what are you talking about, courtroom interrogation? This is a dance studio!"

"Oh. She's feisty," Miss. Patty said. Lorelai sighed. How had she lived in this town for six years and only _now _knew how freaking insane these people were?!

"Please state your name," Taylor told her.

"I'm Lorelai Gilmore. This is Rory Gilmore."

"All right. Continue." She rolled her eyes. That she had to be _given permission _to yell at this guy…

"Yes, Luke is Rory's dad, and yes, I'm her mom, but no, we are not together, but yes, you'll be seeing a lot of us. Happy?!"

"All right, thank you, Lorelai Gilmore, for this clarification…are there any other matters of business that must be addressed? No? Well, then. Meeting adjourned." He hit the table with a gavel.

"Why would anyone in their right minds give that man a gavel? It's like giving the Marx brothers a small enclosed area. You just _know _something awful's going to happen," Lorelai grumbled as they stood.

"Amen," Luke said emphatically. "Sorry about this…" She shrugged happily

"It's okay. I mean, yes, these people are insane, but, hey. Who _isn't?" _Luke chuckled as they shuffled out of the dance studio into the freezing January air.

"You wanna come by the diner?" Luke asked, and Lorelai looked at Rory, who nodded, her smile concealed behind a scarf.

"Yeah. Anything to escape the cold." The three of them entered the diner and as Luke went behind the counter, Lorelai sat on a stool and helped Rory up while he bustled around in the back turning on ovens and whatnot. "How was your playdate at Lane's house?" she asked her.

"Fun. We played hide and seek and then Mrs. Kim got mad and fed us flaxseed muffins."

"As _punishment? _That's awful."

"Not as punishment. But they were awful," Rory clarified. "I'm soooo hungry."

"Me too. Burgers, please, Luke!"

"And mac and cheese!"

"And fries!"

"And _fries!" _Luke poked his head around.

"You already said fries."

"Fries," Lorelai said slowly, pointing to herself, and then, pointing to Rory, she said, "Fries. And coffee, please."

"Fine. But you give her so much as a _whiff…"_

"Oh, chill out, you big baby." He went back to make their food, and Lorelai peered under the plastic cover that covered the donuts. She handed Rory one, and took a chocolate cream one for herself.

"You're going to be sick," Luke grumbled from the kitchen, and plopped two plates of fries in front of them. Lorelai looked at them for a moment.

"Luke?"

"What?"

"Do you consider me to be an idiot? This is one portion of fries _split _onto two _smaller _plates."

"It is _not."_

"Really!" She began to count.

"Okay, okay, okay. Stop. God. How you figure that out…"

"Ah, it's okay, I think we have enough coming as it is."

* * *

It was cold. Bone-numbingly cold, the kind of cold that Connecticut was famous for. Lorelai's sweater, scarf and long wool jacket over pants were not _nearly _warm enough, and a ridiculous ski cap was perched on her head. Why she had chosen _now _to finally come was beyond her, but as she left the Crap Shack on foot, she was seriously regretting not taking the car.

Of course she wasn't walking all the way to the woods – it was at least fifteen miles. But the bus stop in Star's Hollow was a good ten minute's walk, and in knee-high snow, it took at least twice as long. It was funny, because as a teenager, she had simply walked the mile or two from school to get to the woods, but now it was a big commute. But at least she was _going._

Finally she reached the bus stop outside the diner, and she peeked in before sitting down on the nearby bench to see if Luke was there. He wasn't. She shrugged and waited for the bus, rubbing her hands together to keep warm and tugging the hat down around her ears. Finally, _finally, _the big bus came, and she boarded, letting her coins fall into the machine and sitting at the back. She stared out the window as they whizzed past rural Connecticut, and smiled faintly as she recognized different places from when she was a teenager. She got off at the high school, and paused as she walked by. It was around noon, and she figured it was the lunch hour, because the steps were packed. She saw friends chatting, but her smile faltered when she saw a girl and a boy, maybe in ninth or tenth grade, both brunette, having what seemed like a serious discussion on the stairs. He stepped towards her, reached out tentatively, and kissed her. She seemed to kiss him back, but then turned and darted down the steps and out of sight. _Déjà vu much? _She wondered, raising an eyebrow. It was like she was watching herself and Chris as tenth graders, after her fight with Luke after the part...but of course, she doubted that _this _girl hid out in the woods secretly and was in love with _her _best friend. The poor guy probably kissed her and she didn't like him back. And _that _was sad. She shrugged it off and stuffed her hands in her coat pockets and began the walk to the woods. She wouldn't have believed that she still knew how to get there, but her feet carried her down the road and veered to the left onto the frosted dirt path, through snowy trees into what she could only describe as a winter wonderland. She had forgotten how gorgeous it had been here in the winter…each tree frosted in snow, every spike of grass tipped by a frosty cap. It struck her how the _same _this place was, though. Absolutely gorgeous. So silent, so…away from everyone else. It was easy to see why Luke and herself had found such relief here. It was just perfect.

Lorelai walked tentatively over to the snow-covered boulder and shoved away a patch of snow. She frowned, and then took her scarf to wipe it dry. She sat. Didn't help with the cold, much, but soon she was settled, and felt less like an intruder here. Now, she felt like she was…coming home, even. However cheesy _that _sounded. She opened her bag that she had packed specially for the occasion, and pulled out a CD player and put the headphones over her ears. The music slowly swelled, and she closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander.

She hadn't been here in more than _six years. _Seven, really. She wondered if anyone else had discovered it. Any troubled high school students searching for escape. Or maybe this was where the prep school's senior class threw its parties now. _That _made her shudder – the thought of this magical place packed with drunken teenagers, music blasting…ugh. No.

And slowly, her thoughts drifted away from here and instead went to Rory. Her Rory. She was just perfect, really. She was doing well in school – or as well as one can do in kindergarten – and she was so _smart. _She read more every day, and even when she talked, she had the voice of a little girl, but she _sounded _twelve. The funny thing was, that mothers always said how much their daughters were like them, but that didn't seem to be the case in the Gilmore family. Lorelai was the complete opposite of Emily in every way, and while she was very similar to Rory, there were differences. Rory was a little more serious, a little more cautious than her mother had been at that age – hell, _every _age. However, they indulged in the same foods, Lorelai had introduced her to the best movies, and they listened to the same music. And, on occasion, she would see a part of Luke in Rory that would make her stop up short, it was so similar. Like, the way Rory laughed. A short, halting chuckle. And the way she smiled – her smile _was _Luke's. And, of course, her eyes…god, they were _exactly _the same, they even changed color in the same subtle ways that his did. They were a bluish grey most of the time, but when she was upset, or confused or angry, they darkened and became greyer, and when she was happy the blues sparkled. And they did the same funny thing where the corners of their eyes crinkled when they were trying to suppress any kind of emotion at all.

Of course, thinking about Rory and Luke quickly segued into just Luke. It was so strange…they were friends, and they were talking, but it was a little more banter and a little less seriousness than it had been in the past. Now, when they talked about something serious, it was a big deal – a sit down conversation, awkward pauses…of course, it might have just been that they were older now. Had tact, worldly wisdom…but she really, _really _wanted to go back to being fourteen where she could just spill her guts to him and he would sympathize and laugh and sigh where appropriate.

A part of her knew what the change was, but it was almost too complicated to put into words. It was like…when they had first become friends, they were young, fresh, and they hadn't even noticed the not-so-normal elements of their relationship that led to that night, and then to their six-year estrangement. But now…they were conscious that those elements had existed, and they were suppressing them intentionally, and that took out the extra something from their relationship that had made it _so easy _to just talk.

And, the six years apart hadn't helped. For all she knew, Luke had been with someone _for _those six years – she hardly thought he'd been celibate. Then again, it wasn't like she'd sold for ten bucks a dance. The first few years when she was still living at home she hadn't seen _anyone, _and then a couple years back she had dated a certain Jack Manfield for about a month in an attempt to distract herself and get over the hump that was Luke. She hadn't been able to bring herself to sleep with him, though. They'd gotten close – very close – but she'd freaked and made him leave. It was like…when he'd touched her shoulder, or held her hand, _all _she could think of was Luke, because he was all she had to compare him to. So that had ended, and now…now. She and Luke were stuck in this funny place where they weren't quite here nor there, and they knew that whichever direction they went, it would kill the other one. A relationship? Dead friendship. Solid friendship? No chance of a relationship.

The CD ended and she took off the headphones. She glanced up and jumped.

"Jeez!" Luke was leaning against the tree, looking at her. "Talk or something! How long have you _been _there?" He shrugged.

"A few minutes."

"And you were staring at me creepily _because…"_ He shrugged sheepishly.

"I just saw you, and you were sitting there with your headphones, and you just looked exactly like you did when you were fourteen. Exactly," he said again for emphasis. She looked at him for a second and then stood.

"When did you start coming back?" she asked.

"A couple weeks ago."

"Oh. I haven't…until now."

"Yeah, I sort of figured." She sighed.

"Isn't it weird how it's _exactly _the same? I bet the spot where I spilled my nail polish once is still there." She looked around. "I wonder if anyone has come here the past years. I hope…not."

"Yeah, I doubt it, I mean…when I found this place, I swear no one had _ever _touched it."

"Wow." She looked at him quizzically. "How _did _you find it?"

"Same as you, I guess. I was just…I don't know, trying to _escape, _I guess? I didn't know I was here until…I was here."

"Funny how that happens," she said, a bit nostalgically. He tilted his head and looked at her.

"You okay?"

"What? Me? I'm fine!" she exclaimed. "Fine. Why?"

"You look distracted."

"Oh. Well. Yeah. Maybe." He moved towards her, and they sat on the freezing boulder.

"Something wrong?" She frowned, formulating her thoughts before she spoke.

"I…no. Not really. It's just lots of stuff…_happening."_ When he didn't respond she took it as a cue to continue. "Like, you. You're suddenly back in my life, and it's great, and I _love _that you're getting to know Rory."

"But…" He knew her too well.

"_But, _it's…different. Than it was before. I feel like talking – _really _talking – is a bigger deal than it used to be." A frown crinkle his brow.

"What do you mean?"

"I used to be able to spill my guts to you, tell you _everything _on my mind, nothing was off limits, but now…" she sighed. "There's stuff that's off limits." He didn't say anything, just nodded ever so slightly. "Like…" she stopped, looking at him warily. "Is it – is it okay? For me to go on?"

"Yeah. Of course."

"Okay. So, right now, forget Rory, forget…November 28th."

"Okay…" She bit her lip and then released it, and spoke.

"There's all this stuff floating around my mind about this – this guy. We slept together when I was fifteen, he was eighteen, and we didn't talk for almost seven years, but now we're talking again. We have a kid. But when we were teenagers, I could tell him _anything, _and now…I can't. Because the stuff I really _need _to talk about is stuff we barely ever mention. Like, I don't know _what _I feel about him." She paused, glancing at his face before continuing. "It's different, what we have now, than what we had before. Because before, I think it was more than friendship, we just didn't _realize _it because it was the first time either of us had just had such an intense friendship. And I feel like now everything we felt before might still exist, it's just locked away because we're either afraid to let it out or – well, that's it, afraid. Of the consequences, I think. But I don't even _know _if that's what it is, I just know that I haven't stopped thinking about him since I was fifteen, and if this _is _love, and I don't know if it is, then I'm just…scared. Terrified, really. Because I don't know _how _to do this, I'm stuck at fifteen years old. I don't – it's all so…new." She closed her eyes, resting her forehead in her hand. "I'm sorry. That was…ugh, don't even _pretend _you heard that, that was humiliating." She heard him shift, and then say,

"No…it's okay. I'm not sure I _understood _all of that, but I know what you mean. But, Lorelai, you and that guy…don't risk it." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "It seems like you guys might be able to get back to where you were before, and - "

"No, we can't!" she exclaimed. "Because until now, we haven't discussed this at _all! _How can we be as close as we were before if we can't discuss the one thing that I _know _is haunting both of us?!"

"We can," he said. "Its weird, maybe, but we can. It might be the only way, you know? To get back where we were before."

"Oh, Luke, how can we _ever?"_ She looked him right in the eye. "Are you over me?" He blinked, obviously taken aback. "See, we're doing this honesty thing, spilling your guts. Are you over me?" she asked again. He exhaled heavily.

"No," he finally said, and he didn't look at her. That hurt, that he couldn't look at her…like he was afraid of her.

"See? It's been six years, and we're _still _not over each other. What makes you think it'll magically happen the next few weeks? Because until it does, we can _never _be as close as we were before."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. That's why I need my friend back. He'd tell me what to do," she said after a little while.

"Well…what do you think he'd tell you? Because my sense is that he usually told you what you already knew, and just didn't want to admit to yourself." She smiled a little.

"Probably he'd tell me that…I should just try to go back to being friends, because it's too complicated to try anything else. Because look what happened last time. And…he'd say that if we can just work past the past and get to know each other as adults, then…then maybe we could get back to how we were before."

"Sounds about right." Then he looked at her. "Whoa. You okay?" She was biting down hard on her lip and pressing her fingertips against her eyes, what she _always _did when she was trying not to cry – it never worked. "Hey…" he reached out tentatively and put an arm around her, and when she leaned against his strong shoulder he pulled her to him. It was platonic, reminiscent of the past, and it just made the tears start flowing. She pressed her face against his shoulder, against the soft green of his jacket, and knew that she didn't have to say _why _she was upset, he got it. He got that it was hard, knowing that what you wanted so, _so _badly, you could never get. "It's gonna be okay," he said, squeezing her shoulder.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess," she said quietly. "I mean, it's taken me six years to get to this point, maybe in another eighteen, yeah, it'll be okay. Damnit," she said, swiping at her eyes with her gloved hand.

"It'll be okay," he said again, and this time, maybe it was because of the way he was holding her – like they were teenagers again and she was crying over Chris – she believed him.


	13. I'm Getting Tired

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **I'm Getting Tired

**Author's Note: **So, if you haven't noticed, things are going uphill from here: Luke and Lorelai will, of course, eventually be together, but even if they weren't going to be, their friendship is just as, if not more, important than them being in a relationship. Remember that it is a _long _fic and there's a lot more left to happen, and enjoy!

Also, the part in this chapter where Rory gets food poisoning _is _taken from the show – in the seventh season when April gets sick, and Lorelai mentions it, that's where I'm getting this little bit of drama from. 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

"Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking. Yes. Uh-huh, well, we're completely booked for Valentines day, but if you would like to make a reservation for a different – okay, well, then, I could refer you to another – all right, then. Thank you. Yes. All right. Goodbye." She hung up the phone and made a face at it. Stupid, snotty people who thought going to an inn for Valentine's day was _just the most romantic thing…_

She took a sip of coffee and spun in the chair, the fairly empty lobby of the inn whooshing around her. The inn was all pink and gaggy for Valentine's day – little glowy pink lights everywhere, and revolting pictures of cupid plastered on every surface. Even the _food _was getting pinker: there had been strawberry pancakes at breakfast, and salami at lunch, though how _salami _was romantic was beyond her. Unless, of course, it was intended in a dirty sort of way, in which case it was a little obvious.

She stopped the chair when the phone rang, and answered it with her cordial, "Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking."

"Lorelai, it's your mother." She blinked.

"Oh. Hi, mom. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's _wrong, _is it a crime for a mother to call her daughter now?"

"No, you just sounded agitated. What's _up?" _

"As if that's better. Well, I'm calling to invite you to dinner on Friday night."

"Friday night? Why?"

"There has to be a _reason?"_

"Well…yes."

"We're having a bit of a gathering at the house to celebrate your father's birthday, which is Friday, or have you forgotten?"

"I didn't forget, mom," she said, and grabbed a post-it and wrote _Get dad a present!!! _On it in bold sharpie. "So, you want me to come to the party?"

"Yes. You, and Rory, and I've given you a plus one. Please _do _use it, people will talk if you show up at another one of these events without a date." She rolled her eyes.

"How many other people will be there?"

"Oh, well, most of Richard's clients and colleagues and their wives, and the girls from the DAR and their husbands…it'll be quite a gathering. Fifty years is a big birthday, you know. So, are you coming?"

"Uh…yeah. Apparently."

"Good. We'll see you Friday. It's black tie, so don't wear one of your ridiculous ensemble of boots and short dresses, and whoever you bring needs a tuxedo. And wear something in a dark blue, perhaps? It would go wonderfully with the décor."

"I'll see you Friday, mom."

* * *

"We're going to dinner at my parent's house on Friday," Lorelai announced as she walked into the diner.

"And by we, you mean you and Rory, of course," Luke said warily as he poured her a cup of coffee.

"Oh, no. Rory, me, and _you. _My mom gave me a plus one, and I _have _to invite someone, because apparently people will talk if I show up to another one of these events without a date."

"And it has to be _me? _I don't want to go to this thing!"

"Neither do I, but at least me and Rory will be there!" She pouted. "Please?" He sighed.

"I don't know…it'd be complicated."

"Put on suit. Take off hat. Shave. Go to party. Drink. Eat. Talk to _me! _I'm a wonderful conversationalist, or haven't you noticed? Not that complicated."

"No, I mean…do your parents even know who I am?"

"Oh." She thought. "Well…I told my mom. Once. So I guess they know you're Rory's dad, but that's really the extent of it." He looked at her, clearly turning it over in his mind, and finally said,

"Fine."

"Yay! I gotta go get Rory, but I'll see you later." She turned towards the door, and it was only as she was leaving that she called, "Oh, and it's black tie, so you have to wear a tux. Bye!" She grinned at his shocked expression and darted out of the diner. The elementary school was a few blocks from the diner so she walked it: the frigid weather from January had changed to a pleasant 30 degrees, and it was sunny, exactly the way she liked it. When she reached the elementary school they were just getting out, but as she watched for Rory, she didn't see her. Frowning, Lorelai walked into the classroom.

"Hi," the teacher said questioningly.

"Hi. I'm Lorelai Gilmore - "

"Oh, you're Rory's sister! We tried to call your mother, but her phone must have been off."

"Um…" She raised one eyebrow, but was more than a little uncomfortable. "Not her sister…I'm her mother. And what did you need to call _about?" _

"Of course, of course," the teacher said, clearly embarrassed. "Nothing's wrong, just that Rory seems to be a little sick. She's in the nurses office on four – do you want me to take you?"

"No…it's okay, I'll go. Thanks." Rory had never _been _sick. Unless you counted colds and maybe strep throat once. Curse the fact that she had forgotten her new cell phone at home. She took the stairs two at a time to the fourth floor, where she was confronted with a colorful door, where only in the very center in small print could one see, _Nurse. _She knocked and pushed open the door. "Hi. I'm Lorelai Gilmore – Rory's mother?" she said quickly, so there wouldn't need to be any clarification on her part. The nurse nodded.

"Rory's over there." Lorelai turned to see a set of bunk beds, and Rory lying on the bottom one holding her stomach.

"What's wrong?" she asked the nurse as she knelt down beside her helpless looking daughter.

"She came in vomiting during last period. She said she had chicken at lunch and that the pain started not too long after...I'm afraid she might have food poisoning."

"Afraid? You can't _tell?" _Aren't you a nurse? She wanted to add, but knew that would be a step over the line.

"Unfortunately not."

"Rory?" She smoothed back the soft bangs from her damp forehead, and her big eyes stared up at her – a darker blue than she'd really seen before. Fear, she figured. "How do you feel, sweetie?"

"Bad," Rory said softly.

"Oh, sweetie…what do we do?" she asked the nurse. "If it's food poisoning, what do we do?" The nurse sighed, like it was a horrible indignity for her to have to answer medical questions.

"Well, you should bring her to the hospital, and they'll diagnose it."

"Will she be okay?"

"The doctors will make sure of it."

"Okay. Rory? Do you think you can stand up, baby?" Rory shook her head. "Okay. Crap…what do I _do?" _

"Here, I'll call an ambulance." _An ambulance. They're going to take my baby girl away in an ambulance to the _hospital…Rory looked so scared, and sick, and pale, and _small. _God, she looked small lying there in her mom's Hootie and the Blowfish t-shirt that came down to her knees. Lorelai looked back up at the nurse, who smiled artificially, but she still found it soothing. "It'll be here in a few minutes." Lorelai fumbled in her purse for her phone, but then remembered she'd left it at home.

"Can I use the phone?" The nurse nodded, and Lorelai dialed the diner frantically.

"Hello."

"Luke."

"Lorelai? Are you okay?"

"Uh…Rory's really sick."

"_What? _What's wrong, where are you?"

"I'm at her school nurse's office, Luke, she just called the _ambulance! _She said Rory has food poisoning…"

"What hospital?"

"St. Joseph's, I guess." The nurse nodded. "Yeah. St. Josephs."

"I'll meet you there."

"Can't you - "

"The ambulance can only fit one extra."

"Okay. Okay. I'll – I'll see you there." And then she heard the whoop of a siren, and froze. "They're here. I gotta go."

"Okay." She hung up, and looked up just in time to see two men coming into the nurse's office. They checked Rory over quickly, and then one of them gently lifted her up like she weighed two pounds and carried her downstairs, Lorelai racing after him to the ambulance. She sat beside Rory holding her hand for the entire ride, something inside her twisting every time she threw up. Finally they reached the hospital, and as they got Rory into the emergency room, Lorelai waited outside the hospital until she saw the green truck screech to a halt outside the hospital. Luke got out and looked around; then he saw her. He came over quickly.

"Where is she? Is she okay?"

"They took her to the emergency room."

"But she's gonna be okay?"

"I – I hope so! I…God, Luke, she looked so scared…I'd never seen her like that, I - " Before she could say anything more he had suffocated her in a bear hug, and she could tell he was just as scared as she was. After a minute or so they went inside, where they were confronted with forms and this and that, while the whole time Rory was somewhere else, having god knows what done to her. When everything was filled out she and Luke just sat there, both terrified out of their minds. "Rory's teacher thought I was her older sister," she finally said. Luke raised an eyebrow.

"That's tactful."

"No, it wasn't her fault, it just…weirded me out a little, that's all."

"Mmm."

"Better for you – dad at eighteen sounds a hell of a lot better than mom at sixteen."

"Hey. Look at me." She did. "You are a great mother. Yeah, you're young, but that doesn't matter. _You are a great mother," _he repeated, jabbing her with his finger. She smiled.

"Okay, okay." She sighed. "What's taking so long? I hope she's okay…"

"She'll be okay. She has to be. It's _food poisoning. _Right?"

"That's what they said."

"She'll be okay, then," he repeated. Just then a nurse came out and walked up to them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore?"

"No – we're not – uh…Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes. Is Rory – how is she?"

"She had a case of food poisoning, but she'll be all right. She's in there, if you want to see her." The nurse pointed to room 119. Lorelai and Luke stood simultaneously and thanked the nurse before going into the room. "Oh, _Rory…" _the little girl looked tiny in a white bed, a hospital gown, hooked up to an IV. Her eyes were closed, but she shifted a little when Lorelai and Luke came to sit on opposite sides of the bed. There was a soft knock on the door and a doctor came in.

"Hi. I'm Dr. Langrid," she said. Luke spoke first this time.

"How is she?"

"Well, we had to pump her stomach and put her on an IV, and she'll have to take antibiotics for a little while."

"Is she. Going. To be. Okay?" Luke asked.

"Yes." The doctor smiled slightly. "She's going to be fine." _Thank god, _Lorelai thought as she held Rory's little hand in hers.

"When can she come home?" she asked.

"We'd like to keep her overnight, but she can go home tomorrow." Once the doctor left, she turned slightly, hiding her face.

"Lorelai." He seemed concerned, but his voice had a hint of amusement in it. "Lorelai, you don't have to _hide _the fact that you're upset from me."

"I cry in front of you _way _too much."

"Look. I know you're worried about Rory, but the doctor said, she's going to be - "

"Fine, I know."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Just…" she looked up, where Luke was talking to her but holding Rory's other hand, his eyes fixated on her soft, small features. "She looks so small…"

"Yeah."

"It was scary."

"Very scary. You didn't know what was wrong, she could have…" he trailed off. "I'm just glad she's okay."

"You and me both." She smiled a little, because Luke looked _so _adoring, _so _protective, like he'd tackle anyone else who came within ten feet of his daughter. He pushed her bangs back, smoothing her forehead, and then looked back up at Lorelai, who was looking at him.

"What?"

"Nothing. You just look so protective. Like you love her more than anything." He nodded.

"I do." Then they fell quiet, just watching Rory's chest rise and fall as she breathed, and each holding one of her hands.

* * *

"Mom. Mom." Lorelai grumbled. _"Mom." _Her eyes popped open,

"Huh…" she said articulately, and then moved. A bad idea, seeing as she had just spent seven hours asleep sitting up.

"_Dad!" _

"What…" Luke's eyes opened as well. "Oh, man, we fell _asleep?" _Then he looked at Rory. "Hey! You're up."

"How do you feel, sweetie?"

"Okay."

"God, what time is it?" She checked the clock. "Eight in the morning. Wow. Hey, Rory, guess what? You can come home today."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Luke said, massaging his neck with one hand. "The doctors just have to check you over, and then they'll discharge you."

"Good," Rory said.

"She's up," Dr. Langrid said with a smile as she came into the room. "How are you feeling, Rory?"

"Better. I don't feel sick anymore. Just sleepy."

"Well, in a little while the nurse physician will come and check you over, and if everything looks good then your parents can take you home." Rory nodded happily. "Now, if you two would follow me outside, there are some financial matters we need to discuss." Lorelai swallowed and gave Rory a quick kiss on the forehead before she and Luke followed Dr. Langrid to a small conference room. "Now. It's Luke Danes and Lorelai Gilmore, right?"

"Yes."

"Here is the financial table for Rory's hospital stay." She pushed a folder over. _A folder? It gets it's own folder? _That's _not a good sign. _She hesitated and glanced at Luke. "You can look at it when you get home, it's mostly technical stuff. Now, does your insurance cover emergency stays?"

"Ah." She looked down.

"_Tell _me that Rory has insurance," Luke said.

"Rory has insurance."

"Does she really?" She sighed.

"No. The only times she's ever gotten sick I was still at my parents house, so money wasn't a problem…she never gets sick!"

"So we have to pay for this? Lorelai, we can't afford this!" he said urgently.

"We'll see when we get home, okay, Luke?"

"Who is Rory's pediatrician?" Dr. Langrid asked.

"Uh…Andrea Floyd."

"And you didn't use insurance?" She shrugged sheepishly.

"Well, Rory's only ever been there for checkups…" The doctor sighed and jotted something down. They were asked a few more questions and cleared up a few things, and then they were free to go. They waited while Dr. Langrid gave Rory a quick checkup, and filled out discharge papers. Finally Rory came into the waiting room. She held her stomach a little, but otherwise she looked fine. Luke and Lorelai immediately stepped to either side of her and walked her out of the hospital to Luke's car, where they squeezed in the front seat. "You'll drive us back to the house?" she asked Luke, who nodded.

"Yeah. Rory can go lie down, and we'll look over this folder."

"Okay. Left, here. And then right up ahead."

"I know."

"How do you _know?" _

"Because I've driven by your house a thousand times. We live in the same _town." _She sighed and nodded, sneaking glances at him. He looked _mad. _Mad at _her? _And for something real, something adult. This was new. They pulled into the driveway of the Crap Shack, and Lorelai helped Rory to her room. She arranged a stack of books by the bed and put a cup of doctor-approved tea by her side.

"You'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Rory assured her, and picked up a book. Lorelai nodded and closed the door behind her. Luke was sitting in the living room, the folder unopened on his lap. She sat on the table across from him.

"So…should we look?" she finally asked. He tapped the plastic cover with his fingers.

"Okay." He flipped open the cover. Her eyebrows shot up.

"Are you _kidding _me? For a one night's stay, her stomach pumped, and an IV?!" He _whooshed _his breath out, looking at the sizeable number. "Can we afford this?"

"I don't know. We've been so focused on the whole being-good-parents, we haven't dealt with any of the technical stuff. I don't know how much you have…" She told him, and he told her.

"Well, that's enough, then, right? I mean, it'll be tight for a little while, but…"

"How could you _not _have insurance?" he blurted.

"What are you talking about?"

"She's a little girl, she _needs _insurance!" She stared at him.

"She's _never _been sick before!"

"So what?"

"Luke!" She glared at him. "Are you mad that I wasn't thinking about her safety, or are you mad that now you have to shell out the big bucks?" He leapt to his feet and she jumped up, taken aback.

"How _dare _you?" he shouted. "You think I don't love Rory more than anything? You think I'm mad about the _money? _What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Luke, I would sell everything I own if it meant I could help Rory when she was hurt."

"Do you think I _wouldn't? _Do you think that just because I've only known her for three months I don't love her as much as you do? _Who's fault is that, _Lorelai? You're the one that kept her from me for six _years!" _

"_You're still mad about that? _Move past it already, Luke, we've discussed it _over _and _over _and _over…" _He sighed.

"I have never been as scared as I was yesterday when you called me," he said deadpan. "And I'm not angry that I have to pay, because I would work as a janitor at the hospital if it would help Rory. I'd franchise the diner to get money for when she goes to college, I'd write letters to prep schools begging them to take her – don't you get that I would do _anything _for her?"

"Luke!" she said to make him stop. "Of _course _I do. I just don't get why you're so angry. It can't be because I didn't get insurance, that's ridiculous." He sighed. "Come on. Sit." She pulled him down to the couch and sat back across from him.

"It just…scared me, that's all. Seeing her like that? It scared me."

* * *

A black tie birthday party for her 50 year old father seemed a little extravagant, and despite Lorelai's desperate attempts to use Rory's sickness of three days ago to get out of going to the party, she somehow stood here, in front of the Gilmore mansion, with Luke on one side and Rory on the other. She had forced Luke into a tuxedo and Rory into a little velvet dress, and she herself was in a dark red gown of some sort that she was sure she would never wear again.

"Okay, so what do we say when we see Grandma and Grandpa?" she attempted to Rory.

"I'm not going to fake another attack of food poisoning, Mom," she said exasperatedly.

"Fine. Luke?"

"And _I'm _not going to fake a heart attack." She sighed.

"Okay, so, then, what do you _really _say?"

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore, I'm Luke Danes, Rory's father."

"Excellent! And then…"

"No!" the other two said forcefully, and she rolled her eyes.

"_Fine." _She pressed the doorbell, and they were ushered in by a maid who took their coats. She plucked two glasses of wine off of a passing tray and passed one to Luke.

"Lorelai! Rory!" Lorelai nudged Luke, who almost spilled his wine.

"What?"

"_Mother," _she hissed. "Hi, Mom."

"Hello, Lorelai. Hello there, Rory, how are you feeling?"

"Good, thanks, Grandma."

"And who's this?" she asked, slightly distastefully. Luke held out a hand.

"Hi, Mrs. Gilmore, I'm Luke Danes, Rory's father."

"Rory's father? Really! Well. Nice to meet you, Luke Danes, I'm Emily Gilmore." She glanced him over, and apparently found no fault with his tuxedo or combed hair, so she simply excused herself and left.

"Well," Lorelai said as they meandered into the living room. "That was…weird."

"I thought she was nice," Luke said indifferently.

"Exactly. _That's _why it was weird. She was _nice."_

"Well, would you have preferred that she ask me to _leave?"_

"No, but I expected a snarky comment, a meaningful look."

"Well, what can I say." She shrugged.

"Whatever." Rory tugged on her arm. "What is it, Rory?"

"Can I go over there?" She pointed to a group of kids, presumably the sons and daughters of Emily and Richard's friends.

"Sure, sweetie, but be careful of your stomach, okay?" Rory nodded and headed off to join them by the fireplace. "And then there were two," she said dramatically, and took another sip of wine.

"Lorelai?" She looked around and saw a tall, young blonde woman headed her way. "Omigod, Lorelai, it _is _you!" She was suffocated in a hug, and extricated herself to see her attacker's face.

"Oh – Aimi! Hi!" she made a face at Luke as she was nearly knocked over again. "How are you?"

"I'm great, great…college graduate, you know," she said, preening.

"Really? What do you do now?"

"I work in cosmetics. I'm a sales rep for Revlon." Before Lorelai could come up with an appropriate response, Aimi said, "Well, well, who's this?"

"Oh – sorry. Luke, this is Aimi Stockman. Aimi, this is Luke Danes. I told you about her, right, Luke?"

"Right, yes, the famous Aimi," he said, shaking her hand.

"I'm famous?"

"Well, apparently."

"So, what do _you _do now?"

"Oh, well…I'm a manager of an inn."

"An inn? How…nice." Then Aimi clapped her hands, and Lorelai jumped. "Ooh, where is it, where is it?"

"Where is _what?" _

"Your _baby, _silly!" Lorelai stared at her for a moment.

"Rory," she said, "Is over there. In the green velvet." Aimi looked.

"Oh, she's precious! And where's Chris?" she asked conspiratorially. It was funny, because as far as Aimi knew, Luke was her date, yet here she was asking about Rory's supposed father. Lorelai glanced at Luke, and then said,

"Um…well, I haven't talked to him in a few years, he's not Rory's dad. Luke is."

"Ooh, _rea_lly? You little pimp!" Aimi said playfully, pushing her shoulder. Lorelai stared at her again, incredulous as to someone could have so little tact and be so stupid, even after four years at what she assumed was an Ivy League school. But Aimi was not done. "Luke, have you ever _met _Chris? Christopher? God, he is to _die _for. _Se-xy! _It's no wonder," she said, wiggling her eyebrows at Lorelai, who looked at her incredulously. "Omigod, Lorelai, can I see it?"

"_See what?" _In response, Aimi grabbed her left hand. She frowned.

"Oh. No ring? You guys didn't get married?"

"Uh…_no."_

"_Why?" _

"Well, Aimi, I'm not sure how to answer that," she said, looking at Luke who was clearly trying to hold back his laughter.

"Well. _I'm _engaged now. He's over there, the fox in the grey suit. His name's Hugo." Lorelai followed her gaze to a man maybe in his thirties – short, fat, and unattractive.

"Wh – uh…wow…"

"I know, he's not that hot, but omi_god _is he loaded. So _totally _worth the shitty sex." She shrugged her bony bare shoulders, and then said, "Anyways, I should probably go play trophy wife to his corporate business man. I'll see you guys later. This was great!" She jiggled off to Hugo, and Lorelai and Luke cracked up.

"So _that's _Aimi Stockman, huh?" Luke finally said.

"Yep. The one and only." She grinned and then steered him towards the food. "C'mon. Let's go get something to eat."


	14. And I Need Somewhere To Begin

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **And I Need Somewhere To Begin

**Author's Note: **Sorry, The Mrs. Ventimiglia, but this chapter does not take off from the end of the party. It takes place on the next night. Oh, and I've decided that there WILL be a Sookie in this fic, she just won't be _quite _as prominent a character as in the show. That's about it. Enjoy! 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

It was Valentine's Day, and Stars Hollow had gone pink. In fact, everything in the town square _except _the diner had been painted pink. The gazebo was a disgusting bubble-gum pink, balloons in every shade of pink, white and red had been strung artfully everywhere, and Taylor had taken to wearing a feathered pink and white plume on his head, and calling himself the spirit of Valentine's Day. Kirk claimed this had been his idea first, so in retaliation he wore a red and white plume, and now half of Stars Hollow paraded about wearing multicolored plumes of feathers on their heads, much to Lorelai's amusement. She herself had embodied the spirit of Valentine's Day by wearing a plain grey long sleeved shirt and jeans. Valentine's Day angered her, actually, which she figured was common for people who didn't have anyone to celebrate it _with. _She entered the comfortingly _not _pink diner with a clang and sat at the counter.

"Coffee," she said, the single word she had taken to uttering upon entering. "Large cup of coffee. _Need." _Luke eyed her for a minute before sliding a mug to her. "You are an angel," she murmured as she took a long sip.

"Seems that someone has gone wild with the whole Valentine's Day thing," he said sarcastically. She shrugged

"You either love it or you hate it. It's one or the other."

"Huh," he said, a grin spreading over his face. "Because I _seem _to remember _somebody _wearing – what was it? A pink dress, shoes, hair, the works, to match a certain _Aimi Stockman's _red." She shrugged with a grin.

"Ninth graders. Ugh, no, it's like an infection. Pink, pink, _pink. _I think I might vomit. And that would probably be pink."

"Lovely."

"Hey, why are you ragging on my lack of Valentine's spirit? Seems to me the diner is the only non-Pepto Bismal place in town."

"Valentine's Day," he started, clearly gearing up for a speech, "Is a commercial holiday created for the sole purpose of greeting card companies to sell more cheesy cards and singing doves and teddy bears and - " she held up a hand to stop him. "It's just stupid. Food?"

"A burger. But make it well done. Can't deal with anything else _pink." _He chuckled and set to work making it. "Hey, so I have to work late today because of the Valentine's fun, so is it okay if Rory stays here until ten, eleven?"

"Sure," he called back to her, "But I might conk out before then." She laughed. "When do you want to bring her over?"

"Well, she'll just come over after her playdate with Lane, if that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine. Great."

"She's still not feeling so hot, and she's pretty tired because of her medicine."

"Okay, well, I'll keep and eye on her."

"Thanks," she said as she took a bite of the burger he placed in front of her. "Can you help me out later?" she asked. "I need to figure out which insurance company to use for Rory, because _my _insurance I get through work, and it's just _so confusing. _And we have to send a check to the hospital, too."

"Sure."

"And Rory has a checkup in a few days just to make sure she's okay. I'll bring her, it's in the middle of her school day."

"Okay."

"Just letting you know," she said. "Anyways…I should go, gotta get to work. Rory'll be over around four." She pulled out a ten dollar bill, but he waved it off as he always did on the occasions where she forgot that she and Rory didn't pay there, as strange as it seemed. "Thanks. I'll see you later."

* * *

It was late when Lorelai pulled up in front of the diner and got out of the car, cold in the February night in her dress that she'd worn to work. She peered inside the diner and saw Luke working on something at the counter. She knocked before entering, and sat down.

"What'd you do with Rory, hide her?" she asked as he set a cup of coffee in front of her. "This is decaf. I'm not stupid, Luke." He sighed and gave her another cup. "So where's Rory?"

"Asleep upstairs."

"_Asleep? _It's only ten."

"Well, she sleeps. Seems she got that gene from me." Lorelai smiled as she drank her coffee. "You want to go wake her up?" She nodded and they headed upstairs. Lorelai had only really seen the small apartment that Luke lived in a couple times, and each time she was shocked by the dreariness of it. Brown, everything _brown, _and so _small! _They entered quietly to see Rory curled up on Luke's bed, looking tiny even on the single mattress. Luke and Lorelai stood in the doorway looking at her for a minute, and then turned at the same time, ending up face to face in the doorway. Her eyes fell on his lips and then drifted up towards his eyes. There was a second there where her pulse raced and she was sure he was thinking what she was, but then they both stepped away hurriedly.

"Wow, she's conked out," Lorelai said, seeing Rory's chest rise and fall steadily like it always did when she was dead asleep. "I feel bad waking her up."

"She can stay here if you want," he offered. "I'll take the couch, she can have the bed." Lorelai bit her lip.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine. You go on home." She sighed. "What?" he asked, slightly amused.

"Ah…nothing."

"What?"

"I've never spent the night without her, that's all," she said with a shrug. "And she's sick…of course it's not that I don't trust you, not at all, it's just weird not being with her."

"Oh. Well…you'll be okay? Because if you want, the couch pulls out…" Her eyebrows shot up.

"No. That's okay."

"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing her flustered expression.

"I…can't share a bed with you, Luke," she said, half a laugh in her voice. He didn't respond. "It's okay, I'll go home, it's fine. I'll pick her up tomorrow."

"Hang on," he said slowly. She looked up. "Look…we can do this. Think about it like this: if we do this, then it'll be easier, won't it?" She bit her lip, thinking. "It's a big couch, Lorelai. I'll give you your own blanket, it won't be weird, I promise." She sighed. Why had she had to go and say that she was uncomfortable leaving Rory? It would be even weirder if she said that no, she couldn't do it. She _had _to say yes now.

"Okay," she agreed grudgingly. "I don't have pajamas or anything though."

"It's fine," he said, and tossed her a shirt and sweatpants of his. Before she put them on she went to Rory, and gently took off her shoes, leaving her in sweatpants and a turtleneck. She covered her with a blanket and kissed her forehead, and then went into the bathroom to change. She felt ridiculously exposed as she came out in his button-down flannel shirt and ever-so-soft sweatpants, and immediately lay down on the admittedly large couch, pulling her personal blanket up to her chin. "Night," he said, switching off the light.

"Good night," she said, and a small shiver ran through her as he lay down on the other side of the bed. They both lay facing away from each other at the very edge of the couch, and she was practically holding her breath. This was so weird. And so uncomfortable, and his shirt was _so _soft…but, despite her discomfort she eventually drifted off, because however strange it was, it was also nice, to have Luke so close, and Rory right there…but when she dreamed, all it did was make it worse.

She was fifteen again, and it was November 28th. The night replayed itself exactly as it had happened, from the party to the knock on the door, to his bedroom, to the distinct memory of a track trophy in her field of vision as her eyes opened for a moment to unbutton his shirt. She could feel his touch in her dream, she could hear each word he had said to her, verbatim.

Despite their attempts to they stayed at opposite ends of the couch, they must have rolled over in the middle of the night, because she awoke at some point to find him inches away. The creepy part was that in her dream, or memory, what have you, it had reached the part where they lay almost like this, just a few inches closer, talking in quiet voices, their hands linked, him occasionally kissing her shoulder. He was so close now that she was afraid to breath or move. He was _dead _asleep, though, and shifted a little every so often. She couldn't fall back asleep no matter how hard she tried; if she rolled over it would be even weirder, but if she went to sleep now and he woke up to see them _this close, _it would be that much _weirder. _So she lay there silently, stilly, for how long she didn't know. At some point – late – he shifted and his arm thrust out across her. She froze. It was almost _too _coincidental, but here they were, no more than an inch apart, and if she moved he'd wake up and see the way they were lying. At one point she could have sworn he was awake, because he practically sat up, but thankfully then he moved his arm and rolled over. By then, she decided she didn't care if it made things weirder, it was at least four in the morning and she had gotten all of two hours of sleep. She stood up silently and moved to the small bed where Rory slept and slid in beside her. She fell right asleep, and even though she planned to get up early and go back to the couch, she ended up sleeping until nine. She woke to the strong smell of coffee, and found that Rory was already in the kitchen area with Luke. Lorelai changed back into the clothes she'd worn the previous day and went to sit with them.

"Hey," she said, and Luke nodded in her direction.

"Hey." He set a mug of coffee in front of her.

"Thanks." She saw that Rory was done with what looked like pancakes, and so she said, "Hey, Rory, why don't you go get your things together, okay, sweetie?" Rory nodded happily and headed to gather up her things. Lorelai turned to Luke and sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "For moving? Last night. It was just…I don't know, you moved in your sleep, and things got weird, I know you didn't mean for things to be weird but they were…weird. Sorry," she said again, looking down at her coffee.

"No, it's okay," he said after a moment, coming to sit across from her at the table. "I shouldn't have pushed that on you, should have figured you would have been uncomfortable." She sat back, slightly surprised.

"You figured _I _would have been uncomfortable? What about _you?" _

"No, I mean…I knew it would be weird for me, too, that's why I thought it would be a good thing to do, see if it helped. Clearly it didn't." She shrugged and took a drink of the coffee.

"It's okay."

"Okay." They both sat for a while, the long-gone awkwardness between them coming back. "Lorelai, I - "

"Ready!" Rory announced, coming into the room at top speed. "Mommy, can we sleep at Daddy's again?" she asked.

"Sure," Lorelai said, standing up and getting her bag. "You can sleep at Daddy's again." She met Luke's eyes for an instant, and then turned towards the door. "Bye, Luke," she said. "Thanks for letting us stay over. I'll see you later." And then they were out the door. She and Rory walked through the diner to the exit, and she was thankful for Rory's presence, because otherwise they would have assumed falsities, and she really didn't feel like dealing with that.

"Where are we going, Mommy?" Rory asked, bright-eyed.

"Home," she said, keeping her eyes on the road. "I have to go to work for a couple hours, but I'll ask Babette to keep an eye on you, okay?" Rory nodded.

"Why can't I go back to Daddy's?"

"Daddy has to work too, honey."

"Oh." Rory sat silently for a bit. "Doesn't Babette have to work?" Lorelai laughed a little.

"That's a good one, sweets. You feeling better today?"

"Yeah. I slept _really _well last night, too. Daddy's bed is comfortable." Lorelai didn't say anything, and pulled up to their house.

"I'm going to get changed and call Babette, okay?"

"Okay," Rory said, and ran into the house. Lorelai changed out of her dress and into slacks, and rang Babette quickly to ask if she could check in on Rory a couple times while she was out.

"Okay, bye, babe," she said, kissing Rory quickly on the forehead. "I'll be home in a few hours." Rory waved goodbye from where she sat on the couch with a book, and Lorelai hurried to the car and drove to the inn.

* * *

Lorelai had recently become friends with the new sous-chef, Sookie. She was twenty-five and just out of culinary school, and Lorelai thought she was a goddess. She was also her first actual _friend _other than Luke – an _adult _friend, because when she was with Luke, she was anything _but _adult. Of course Lorelai's friendship with Sookie didn't come _close _to that of hers and Luke's, but it was nice having a girlfriend to talk to sometimes. So, on this particular occasion when she entered the kitchen, she sat down at the counter with a dramatic sigh an got a cup of coffee.

"Someone's chipper," Sookie commented with a smile. "Rough night?"

"You have no _idea." _She sighed. "I slept with Luke?"

"_What?" _Sookie leapt up and came to sit across from her.

"No!" Lorelai said quickly, realizing how that had come out. "No, I mean…I literally _slept _with _Luke. Slept."_

"Oh." Sookie frowned. _"Why?" _The extent of what Sookie knew about the Luke situation was basically that they had slept together as teenagers, and now they were caught in limbo. After all, she was a _new _friend. Lorelai wasn't about to spill her intense feelings to someone she had only known for about three months.

"Well, he had Rory for the evening, and when I got there to pick her up she was dead asleep…I didn't want to _leave _her, but I didn't want to wake her up, so I ended up sharing the couch with Luke."

"And?" Sookie asked, pushing a cookie towards Lorelai.

"God, it was so weird. He moved in the night, and he had his arm over me, and it just…ugh. When he moved, I got up and slept in his bed with Rory."

"Well…hmm. What does that mean?" Sookie asked in a faux-Freudian voice.

"That I'm hopelessly in love with him," she said mundanely. "We've been over this."

"Right. Right. I'm sorry, so _why _don't you do anything about it?" Lorelai sighed, taking a forceful bite of the cookie.

"It's complicated."

"That's what you always say. That's why I don't know."

"I think it's that…well, we were such good friends first, but that was _because _we were completely in love with each other, we just didn't _realize _it. So now we want to be friends again, but without the love factor."

"Why not?"

"Because…if it goes sour, there's no hope of _ever _getting another chance. As friends, or anything. And it wouldn't be at _all _fair to Rory." Sookie sighed.

"Okay, okay. You're right."

"Lorelai?" The staff manager, Sandra, poked her head in. "We need you at the front desk." She stood.

"Bye, Sookie. Thanks for the coffee. And the cookie."

* * *

"This is getting pathetic," Lorelai announced as she was doused in snow from the offending branch blocking the path and stumbled into the clearing, where Luke, of _course, _was. "It's like ESP or something. _Every time _I think about coming, you're here."

"I'm sorry," he said dryly.

"No, its not bad. Just funny."

"Hey, uh, Lorelai?"

"Hey, uh, Luke?" She shot back as she sat against the boulder next to him.

"Where's Rory?"

"Oh. Babette was watching her while I was at work, and I got off early and decided since she's covered I'd come here."

"She could have stayed with me." She shrugged.

"Yeah…" She felt oddly out of place in her slacks and jacket, sitting on the cold ground with Luke. He looked at her strangely.

"Last night really freaked you out, huh?" She sighed.

"God, I forget how well you know me." He jostled her shoulder a little.

"Come on. Talk to me."

"Noooo, I can't," she said half obstinately, half playfully.

"We've been over this," he said, looking at her with a sort of mix between a frown and a grin on his face. "You know you can. Come on, try me." She sighed.

"Fine, but you asked for it."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"It was just weird, that's all. Too…déjà vu-ey, I guess you could say. _You _were dead asleep, so it didn't freak _you _out, but…" she shrugged. "It was a little soon, that's all. And kind of a leap, too. I think, you know, sharing a bed?" She said it sort of playfully, because it was a ridiculous scenario. "Maybe next time we should work up to that a little bit more." They both laughed a little. "It's okay, though," she said more seriously. "I was just sort of weirded out this morning, that's all."

"Okay," he said, clearly analyzing and processing this. "Well…sure. Next time we want to _share a bed, _we'll work up to it before hand." She giggled. "We okay, though?"

"We're okay." Her hair fell across her face as she leaned forward and picked up a stick, tracing random lines in the snow.

"What are you doing?"

"Making great art," she retorted, and sat back proudly to display a stick figure drawing of a crazed girl carrying a cup on which was written _coffee. _"Me," she said, pointing to it, and then drew a stick figure with a backwards baseball cap, holding a pitcher of coffee protectively. "You." He grinned and reached out to push the hair behind her ear. She looked up at him, surprised, and it happened again – her eyes got stuck on his lips, and when she finally dislodged them they moved to his eyes, those silvery blue whirlpools sucking her in...This time, though, she stood up quickly, almost falling over. "I should go…Rory's home alone…I'll see you later, okay?" Without waiting to hear his goodbye in return, she left the woods quickly, walking to where her car was parked at a nearby gas station and driving home. It was getting ridiculous, these moments. So frequent. It was like time would just…_stop _for an instant, they would stare at each other, realize what was happening and hop to it, moving quickly in an effort to forget the still moments.


	15. I Came Across A Fallen Tree

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Author's Note: **I have a feeling this chapter is going to make you all very happy…

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

"So anyway, I think he's stupid," Rory said, shrugging off her coat in the unseasonably warm April weather. "Because he _still _doesn't know how to read, and he's awful at math. Like, he can't even multiply ten times twenty. He thinks that's _hard."_

"Well, not everyone's as smart as you, sweetie," Lorelai said slightly distractedly as she glanced around before walking away from the elementary school with Rory. It was about five blocks to the diner, and in December they had established a routine. They would leave Rory's school and walk to the diner, stay there for about an hour or so, and then depending on Lorelai's work schedule, Rory would either stay there or they would go back to the crap shack.

"But _still," _Rory said, frustrated. "And he called Lane weird. That's so mean."

"Honey, with people like this Jeffrey, you just have to ignore them. They _are _stupid." They rounded a corner and passed Doose's market. "Anyways, next year he probably won't be in your class anyway. Just a couple more months."

"I guess." They walked quietly for a minute. "Mom?" Lorelai grinned slightly. Rory had recently decided that _Mom _was much cooler than _Mommy, _and the same went for Dad and Daddy, so she was adjusting to her new name.

"Mmm hmm?"

"What do you want for your birthday?" she asked.

"_My _birthday? Wow, I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Anything you make me I'll love."

"No, but do you want a party or something?"

"Rory, honey, you do _not _have to throw me a party. Twenty-three isn't that big a birthday." Rory shrugged as they entered the diner.

"Okay. Just checking."

"Well?" Luke asked as they sat at the counter.

"Well, what?" Lorelai retorted, until she realized he was talking to Rory.

"Anything you make her she'll love, and you don't have to throw her a party because twenty-three isn't that big of a birthday," Rory reported. Lorelai laughed.

"Stealth, Rory." She picked up the coffee that was set in front of her and took a sip. "Mmm."

"You want some food?"

"Yeah…a grilled cheese," Rory said. He looked to Lorelai, but she shook her head.

"I'm good with coffee." Luke set to work making a grilled cheese, and reappeared with it in a few minutes.

"So, no party or anything?" he asked. She shrugged.

"I'm not picky. I mean, if you _want _to throw me a party, I sure as hell won't complain, but no extravaganza is necessary."

"Good to know. So – your birthday's this Friday, right?" She nodded.

"April 20th."

"You having dinner with your parents?" She considered.

"I would…but I actually think they're on their spring vacation in Europe. So I'll be here." He nodded.

"Would you excuse us for a moment?" She nodded, bemused, and Luke and Rory moved to the end of the counter. Despite their attempts to be discreet, she heard every word.

"I'll get Sookie to have her at the inn until six, and then I'll be at Lane's and ask her to come pick me up, and then we'll go home. Will you have everyone there by six thirty?" Rory asked conspiratorially. Luke nodded. "Okay. We should go back before she suspects something." They came back to the counter.

"I wonder what that was about," she said dramatically, grinning. "It _couldn't _be about the secret party you're planning on throwing me, _could _it?"

"No, it definitely isn't," Rory said, taking a bite of grilled cheese.

"You're too smart for your own 6 year old good," Lorelai told Rory, finishing off her coffee. Rory shrugged happily.

"I know. But pretend you heard nothing."

"It's forgotten." She glanced at the clock. "Oh, Rory, we should get going, I have to be at the inn in a few minutes." She sighed. "They're working me on _crazy _shifts different every day, because they said they want to see where I'd fit best when I get promoted." She smiled and stood up. "So…I'll see you before Friday, but there's a possibility I might have to slip out a few afternoons while you and Rory continue planning."

"Sounds good," Luke said with a grin, and waved them out the door.

"So, tell me, what's this party like?" Lorelai asked the second they were out the door.

"I'm not telling," Rory said indignantly. "But it's gonna be _fun." _

* * *

One thing was for certain – it _was _fun watching Luke and Rory plan for the next few days, conspiring over the counter, secret phone calls, and _lots _and _lots _of giggles on Rory's part. She seemed to _love _being in on a secret, and Lorelai sure hoped it was a killer party for the amount of fuss they were making. On Friday afternoon she was working at the inn, and she got a call from her mother.

"Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking."

"Hello, Lorelai, it's your mother."

"Hi, mom," she said distractedly, and closed the computer window.

"I wanted to let you know that your father and I decided to cut our Europe trip short, and we're in a car home from the airport now." Lorelai made a face. "So, that means that we'd like to have a birthday dinner with you and Rory tonight."

"Oh, Mom…see, I thought you would be in Europe, so I kind of made other plans."

"Oh." Emily was quiet for a moment. "What plans?"

"Rory and Luke are throwing a party. I think. It's all very hush-hush."

"Rory and _Luke?" _

"Yes, mother, Rory and Luke," she said tiredly.

"Lorelai, are you _involved _with this man?" Emily asked sharply.

"_No, _mom! We're friends. _Good _friends." She sighed. "I was never _in _a relationship with him, we were _always _friends." Emily didn't comment. "Anyways…"

"I want to come."

"To what?"

"To whatever event Luke and Rory are planning for you."

"Oh, Mom..."

"Lorelai, don't make _excuses, _it's pathetic."

"No, Mom!" she said forcefully. "Don't do this, _please! _They're planning something special for me, and frankly, I don't want you there. I'll talk to you later, Mom." She slammed down the phone and groaned. Sookie came running into the lobby just then. "Whoa, girl."

"Happy Birthday!" she exclaimed, almost knocking her over with a hug. "Oh, you're twenty _three. _You're so _young! _How'd you get to be so young?" Lorelai smiled.

"We've been over this."

"Oh, wait, I was supposed to - Right! Okay. Lorelai, I was thinking that since it is your birthday, you would like to stay late at the inn with me and we can sneak up to one of the rooms and watch TV and eat out of the minibar." She grinned, sensing the next step in the plan.

"I would love to, Sookie. But I might have to leave around six." They exchanged a look, and then headed upstairs. They went through two movies and half the minibar, and then at six, like clockwork, she got a call from Rory asking her to pick her up from Lane's house. "Oh, _time _to go!" she said theatrically, standing up and picking up her purse. "I'll see you soon?" Sookie nodded sheepishly. "Okay, then." She left the inn and drove the short distance into town to pick up Rory from Lane's house. The two were sitting in the front hall, and she assumed Rory had only just arrived there.

"Hey mom. Can we go home?" Rory asked instantly.

"Mmm…I was actually thinking that we could go on a _road trip!" _

"What?"

"Yeah, yeah, a big birthday road trip."

"_Mom." _

"Okay, okay. Let's go home and see whatever it is you and Luke have been planning. Jeez. You two are like little kids."

"Well, one of us _is _a little kid," Rory quipped as they got in the car and drove towards home. "And I think my little kid-iness is rubbing off on Luke." Her mouth dropped as they pulled in the crowded driveway. There were cars of every shape and size in front of the house, and it was covered in tiny lights. She could hear music from inside, and the entire back yard had been covered with tables and what she figured was a dance floor. A man with long hair who she hadn't seen before was playing DJ.

"You're kidding," she said as she got out of the car. "You and Luke did _all _of this?"

"Well, I planned. He executed," Rory said proudly. Lorelai just shook her head. All of a sudden the lights went out and the DJ ran back into the house. Lorelai glanced at Rory. "Come on, now, don't be shy, let's go in," she urged, so they entered the now dark and silent house. _Three…two…one…_Lorelai thought in her head, and sure enough –

"_**SURPRISE!" **_The lights flickered on as every person she had ever laid eyes on jumped out behind some piece of furniture or simply forward from the wall.

"Wow," Lorelai said as the party continued. "Where's Luke?" Rory nodded towards the kitchen. "I'll be right back," she said, heading in that direction. Sure enough, Luke was in the kitchen at the stove, flipping burgers like his life depended on it. "Luke." He glanced up quickly but then looked back down at the burgers. "Hey, burger boy." He set them on plates and turned to her.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," she said honestly. "This is…_insane. _In a good way. You didn't have to - "

"I know," he said quickly. "I wanted to." She smiled slightly, and then shrugged it off. "Hey, quit it with the burgers for a little. Come out to the party." He deposited the final batch onto another plate and turned off the oven.

"Help me bring these outside," he said, so they each took two platters and brought them out to the back yard, where the majority of the party had moved to the dance floor. She spotted Babette and Morey, Gypsy, Andrew – everybody in the town who, even though she didn't know them _that _well, all loved her.

"Come dance?" she asked boldly. He hesitated for a nanosecond and then nodded. "Be warned, I'm spazzy," she said, and instantly proved herself right by twirling herself on his hand and nearly crashing into Miss Patty.

"Happy Birthday, doll," she called to her, and Lorelai laughed. She and Luke whirled around the dance floor like a pair of insane birds, twirling and falling and laughing. There weren't any of the awkward moments, because they were moving too fast to look at each other. However, the song eventually turned slow, and she caught her breath, turning to go back to the house. She was surprised when he caught her hand, pulling her back.

"Luke…" she started as he laced his fingers through hers and put the other hand on her waist. She rested hers on his shoulder, looking at him. They began to dance, and her thoughts of weirdness vanished as they pranced there and back, still looking like lunatics. They passed Rory and Lane, who were holding hands and leaning back and spinning as fast as they possibly could, and she grinned in Rory's direction. Eventually, though, the craziness stopped and they were _actually _dancing – stepping back and forward and sideways slowly. She kept her eyes trained on his shoes, ignoring the feeling of his hand on her dress or his other hand in hers.

"See?" he said quietly, so only she could hear him. "Who says it has to be weird?" She didn't answer for one rotation around the dance floor.

"I don't know," she said just as quietly. "Sometimes it just seems impossible. Like there's just too much…history…" she trailed off. "What?" she asked, tilting her head so she could see his face. "Luke?" He slowed them even more, to a point where they were just stepping back and forth, and didn't say anything. Then it happened again, one of those irritating moments where their eyes met, and her breath hitched and they both froze, even though they were still technically dancing. This time it lasted longer, blue eyes radiating off of blue-grey ones, and then he actually did it, he actually leaned in; it wasn't her imagination, and she was leaning in too to cover the few inches between them, and then –

They jumped apart as a song with a strong beat came back up, hearts pounding, and their hands dropped from each other like the other was on fire. Without a glance at each other they were going in opposite directions, Luke towards the house and Lorelai towards Sookie.

"Hey!" Sookie said at the sight of her, and handed her a fancy hors devours. "How's it going?" Lorelai looked around, flustered, and took a bite. "Good right?"

"Yeah. Sookie – I just almost _kissed _Luke." Sookie tilted her head.

"Are you sure?"

"What do you mean, am I _sure?" _

"Well, it's not the first time you've said it."

"Sookie, I'm _sure. _We were dancing, and then he said that see, it didn't have to be weird, and then _I _said that sometimes it just seemed impossible – you know, that we could ever move past the weirdness – because there's too much history, and then it got really quiet and he _leaned in, _Sookie. We were _this close _but then a different song came on."

"Hmm." Sookie looked out into the crowd. "Where is he now?"

"I don't know, we both bolted."

"_Why?"_

"Sookie!"

"I'm sorry, okay? But you two are _perfect."_

"No, we're not!" she insisted. "That's exactly why we _can't _be together, there's _too much history. _Sookie, I lost my virginity to him, and then he didn't talk to me for six years!"

"You've moved past that - "

"No," she cut in. "We haven't." She sighed. "I'm not letting it ruin the party. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay," Sookie said reluctantly as Lorelai dispersed back into the crowd.

* * *

Later, around nine, Lorelai found herself back in the kitchen where Luke was back, still cooking. She sighed, leaning against the table.

"Luke." He exhaled heavily but didn't look up. "Luke, it can't work this way," she said suddenly, causing him to look up. "See, I can see this trend in you. Like, how you didn't talk to me for six years after we slept together? And then we have this – moment, for lack of a better word, and you ignore me?" He set down his spatula with a sigh.

"I don't want to ruin what we've spent five months working towards," he said slowly, clearly. She let out a frustrated exclamation.

"But – _argh! _We're older now! I'm twenty-three, you're twenty-five – it's not like it was then!"

"It's _exactly _like it was, you're acting _just _like you did when you were fifteen."

"Well so are _you!" _

"Which just goes to show that what you're saying is the _wrong thing _to do!"

"How can you _say _that after everything?" Their voices were loud, she was sure some people could hear them, but she was so angry mixed with yearning that she didn't care.

"It's not right."

"Of _course _it's right, it's the most right thing I've ever _heard _of, you're just being stubborn, that's what you're doing, you're just - "

"Stop it, jeez, Lorelai, stop _doing _this, you're making it hundreds times worse!

"I don't _care."_

"Just this, the past five minutes? You may have ruined _everything. _Don't you get that?"

"Don't _you _get that I don't care what I've ruined? That sounds bad, I know, but _Luke, _come _on! _We've been fighting this for _so long, _I'm tired of fighting, I'm just – _tired!"_

"Lorelai, don't do this."

"No! I've been _not doing _this since November, I'm sick of playing whatever role you want me to just so you can feel more _comfortable. _It doesn't work like that, Luke. This is not a healthy – _thing. _We're _never _going to get over this hump, don't you _see _that? Sure, there are times where it isn't weird, but _still! _There's proof everywhere, it's just so _simple, _all you have to _do _is - " she stopped, seeing how he was looking at her. "God help me, Luke, you better follow this one through…" she said just before he was stepping towards her, and his hand locked with hers and then released it, he pushed her hair out of her eyes as she tilted her face up towards him, her heart racing, and then they were less than an inch apart...and then he was kissing her. His lips were exactly as she remembered them; warm, soft, _perfect…_his hand got tangled in her hair and hers were on his shoulders, on his face, in his hair…

They stayed there for a while, she didn't know how long, just kissing in the kitchen, every part of their bodies touching, afraid to let go, as if they were afraid the other would slip away. They didn't talk, just _kissed, _again and again, locked together in an eternal embrace. It had taken them almost eight years to get here, and all she could think was _finally._


	16. I Felt The Branches

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **I Felt The Branches

**Author's Note: **So, the wonderfully inevitable has happened. What now? Read and see.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

Lorelai awoke gradually the morning after her birthday with a blissfully clear mind, momentarily unaware of what had happened the previous night. She sighed happily and sat up, opening her shades. It was when she stood up and saw the blue dress she had worn the night before hung over her chair that she remembered, and her hand flew to her mouth. Had they really - ? No. But they _had. _It had finally _happened. _The familiar feeling of slightly bruised lips was enough evidence, as was the elated feeling that seemed to have consumed her entire being. She sat back down on the edge of her bed, unable to shake the smile that had spread across her face. She let her hand drop from her lips to the bed, and then sighed happily. She knew things would get awkward when she next saw Luke – the whole _what now _thing, but right now all that mattered was that they had finally, _finally _closed the gap. Both figuratively and literally.

They had kissed for _so _long, she didn't even _know _how long, just standing there in the kitchen where, thankfully, no one interrupted them. Around eleven, though, he had gently broken away, saying that he needed to get back because he had to open the diner early. She nodded and they had kissed goodbye, but now she didn't know where they stood. But that was all to be dealt with later.

After a few minutes of basking in her glory, she stood up and dressed, thankful that it was a Saturday and she didn't have to work. She took special care in her appearance today, finally deciding on a green thinly knit sweater and her best jeans, completed with boots. She hurried downstairs and found Rory still asleep, so she wrote a little post it note and stuck it on her nose: _Picking up food from Luke's. Be back soon. _She got in the car and drove determinedly to the town, and parked outside the diner. It was around nine, and the diner was long open but seemed fairly empty. She stepped out of the car and walked boldly up the steps, determined _not _to turn back. She had spirit. She had determination. She had _love. _The door opened with the familiar jingle of the bell, and Luke looked up, something in his face changing as he saw her.

"Hi," she said after a second, coming to stand by the counter.

"Hey," he said, setting a cup of coffee in front of her. There was an awkward silence, and then she said,

"Um…could I get French toast and pancakes to go? I'm bringing food home to Rory."

"Sure." He turned towards the back.

"Uh, Luke? Hang on a sec, would you?" He stopped and turned around, with an expecting expression on his face. "We kissed," she said, deadpan. "A lot. A _lot, _a lot."

"Yeah," he said.

"That makes three words," she said half-jokingly. "So…" She sighed. "What now?" He looked at her for a second.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…that meant something. Right? Of course it did?"

"Yeah, no, definitely…"

"So what do we do now?"

"Oh. Well…I don't know," he said honestly.

"Me neither." She bit her lip nervously. "Here, why don't you…cook on it?"

"Sounds good." He turned to make the food, and she sat uncomfortably, tapping the counter and then examining her fingernails, looking at the ends of her hair, twisting a loose thread from her sweater between her fingers. After a while she was presented with a warm bag. "So."

"So." They looked at each other. "What…are we?" she finally asked. At his blank expression, she continued. "I mean…are we boyfriend-girlfriend? Or dating? Or still just…_friends?" _

"No," he said quickly.

"No, what?"

"Not just friends. Don't worry, it _did _mean something, _more _than something. I'm just not sure…_what. _I mean, we didn't really get to talk much…" she laughed briefly. "Should we try dating?"

"Well, we've never done that before," she joked, and smiled. "Dating sounds good."

"Dating it is, then." He rested his hands on the counter. "Uh…I'm sorry, I've never really _dated _before…not sure on the exact protocol…"

"Well," she said, standing, "It's customary for you to ask me to dinner, presumably, some time in the near future. Possibly a movie beforehand."

"Okay, then, Lorelai, would you like to have dinner with me tonight? No movie necessary." She smiled happily.

"I'd love to."

"Good." They looked at each other again, happy in this new stage – a stage they hadn't ever been in before. Dating. They had slept together, they had been in love, they had kissed, but dating. This was new. "So I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Seven sounds good." They hesitated, unsure of whether to kiss, and then Lorelai stepped back, not wanting to push it. "So…I'll see you then."

"Bye."

"Bye." She left the diner and stopped for a second to have a tiny spaz moment in which she let out a high pitched giggle, and then got in the car and brought breakfast home to Rory.

* * *

Lorelai spent a good hour and a half getting ready that night, which included calling Sookie and asking her to babysit, and then dealing with an earful of squealing on the other end until she calmed down. She tried on every outfit she possessed, deeming some "too nun-y," some "too come-and-get-it," and some "blah, blah, _blah." _Rory sat on her bed, a little unsure as to what was going on but happy to give her input once she figured out which term applied to which outfit. Lorelai dreaded the day she had taught her six year old to say "come-and-get-it." She finally settled on jeans and a nice top, and fried her hair by blow-drying it, then curling it, and then changing her mind and straightening it. She had let it grow out a little bit, past her shoulders, a little reminiscent of her teenage days. She didn't spend quite as much time on her routine makeup, and then went downstairs at six-forty-five, ready, for once, on time. She saw Sookie outside and let her in, smiling a hello at her while she fastened on earrings.

"Oh my god!" Sookie said when she saw her. "You look so beautiful…!"

"Thanks, Sookie, but what are we _not _going to do?"

"Freak out anymore, I know." She clapped her hands. "Oh, I'm just so excited you two are _finally _getting it together."

"Believe me, you don't know the half of it," Lorelai told her, leaning against the couch to pull on her shoes.

"And you'll call if you need me to stay later…_right? _I'm perfectly happy to stay _all night…" _

"_Sookie! _I really, _really _don't think that's going to happen. Given what happened last time, I think we're taking it _really _slow now." Sookie shrugged and sat on the couch, where Rory sprinted into the room and landed next to her.

"What time is Dad coming?" Rory asked, oblivious to what was going on.

"Seven."

"Don't talk mean about me."

"There's nothing mean to _say, _Ror."

"Where's he taking you?" Sookie asked. Lorelai shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess I'll find out. Dinner."

"We _had _dinner last week," Rory said petulantly. _"Why can't I come?" _

"Because…this is a special grownup dinner," Lorelai said. "We're going to talk about boring things, like – like taxes," she finished lamely. She jumped as there was a knock on the door and flashed a quick, knowing grin at Sookie before composing herself and going to get the door.

"Hi," she said. "Want to come in? Rory's jealous that she doesn't get to come…it's a _boring grown up's dinner, _you know."

"Of course, of course…sure, yeah." She stepped aside to let him in.

"Dad, hi!" Rory called, running over to hug him around his waist.

"Hey, Rory," he said, grinning at her.

"Where are you and Mom going?" she asked, proud of her proper usage of the words _Mom _and _Dad. _

"To dinner," he said. "Don't worry, she'll be back." He nodded briefly in Sookie's direction, and then turned back to Lorelai. "Shall we?" She nodded, and said a quick goodbye to Rory and Sookie before following him out the door to his car. They had a small awkward moment in which they collided as he went to open her door, but they settled into the seats after a bit of fumbling. "You look great, by the way," he said, and she smiled.

"Thanks. You too. Nice to see a change from flannel every once in a while." She slid on her seatbelt as he started the car and drove down the driveway. "So, where are we going, exactly?" He just grinned knowingly, and she rolled her eyes. "So it's a _secret _dinner."

"That's right." They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a bit, so she laughed and said,

"Hey, apparently Miss Patty got engaged again last night to that guy – Alfonzo? God. I will forever call him the Fonz." Luke chuckled. "I guess we missed that," she said a little softer. He shrugged good naturedly.

"Hey, it was worth it." She looked over at him curiously.

"You're in a good mood." He shrugged again. "I don't think I've ever seen you in such a good mood."

"That's not true."

"Oh, really?"

"What about when the Red Sox won?" She laughed, remembering.

"Okay, that might have topped this one." He turned his head to look her right in the eye, and said,

"Believe me. Not even _close." _She smiled happily and stretched her arms out to her knees, and then let them drop. They drove for a little while longer, talking, until he pulled up to a small restaurant not far from Hartford.

"What is this?" she asked as she got out of the car, tripping a little on her heels and catching her balance on the hood.

"Come and see. You'll recognize it." She raised an eyebrow but followed him into the restaurant. She looked around, and then laughed.

"Oh, man, I'd totally forgotten that!" Early June after ninth grade, they had been at another dud party – one of her friends' – and had decided to liven things up by cutting the power, something Luke, always handy, knew how to do. They had fled the scene after mass chaos ensued, laughing, and ended up, well, _here. _They'd talked the whole night and eaten a disgusting amount, but they'd never come back.

"Well," he said as they were lead to a table, "We didn't cut any power this time, but I figured it might do just as well." She nodded. "Good." She opened the menu.

"Ooh, I _remember _those pancakes! They were _good."_ She considered. "Then again, yours are better." The waitress came by and took their drink orders, and they were soon presented with a beer and a martini. He picked up his glass for a toast, and she smiled, surprised. She couldn't stop smiling tonight.

"To you," he said, and she giggled softly. "And to us," he added.

"Finally," she finished. They clinked glasses and sipped. After a little bit they placed their orders, and while they waited began talking.

"You know," he said, "I would just like to point out that we are hopeless failures."

"In more ways than one," she said, laughing slightly. "Care to elaborate?"

"What I mean is, that we utterly failed in being friends." She shrugged happily.

"Eh. I think I'm happier this way." He nodded.

"Well, good. Me too." They smiled simultaneously, and then their food arrived. They spent a good five minutes eating in silence. After a little bit, though, he put his fork down and looked at her. "Hey, Lorelai?"

"Yeah?" She rested her fork on her plate.

"We're actually doing this. It's not just me. Right?" This time she couldn't contain the massive, goofy grin on her face.

"It's not just you." He sat back.

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know. It feels a long time coming, though. Y'know?"

"Believe me, I know." They ate for a little longer, and then _she _said,

"I don't know. It feels like there's too much in the past to pick up where we started." He nodded.

"I know what you mean. I'm a little iffy there myself."

"So what if we…start over? Not entirely, of course, I mean, some stuff…but – _could _we? Start over? Put all that stuff behind us, and do this again, as adults?" He started to nod, but then shook his head. "What?"

"I don't think we can. There's too _much _to pretend none of it ever happened."

"No, no!" she said quickly. "Not pretend it never _happened. _Just sort of look at this, now - " she gestured at the space between them, "As something new." He thought for a second.

"Okay."

"Yeah?" She grinned. "Okay, then." They finished their food, talking about everything from the latest news to Rory. After a while Luke paid the bill, and they got in the car. It wasn't until they were halfway through town that she realized they were driving to the diner. _Okay. Coffee. Just…coffee. _He parked outside of the diner and came around to her door, something she was still getting accustomed to. She'd never really _had _a guy who opened her door for her, as strange as that sounded. Even Jack, who had been a perfect gentleman, had still been in college and saving for a car. They walked to the diner, and he surreptitiously slipped his hand through hers. She felt her face flush, but by the time they were inside he had to drop her hand anyway to go behind the counter and pour a cup of coffee, which he slid over to her. "Thanks," she said, taking a sip. He watched her for a minute, and then straightened up.

"Hey, c'mere." She grinned.

"What, behind the _counter? _Oh, but Luke, I'm not allowed…" she stood, walking around. "What?" He put a finger under her chin, tilting it up, and looked right at her before kissing her. "Oh," she said once they broke apart.

"Oh, jeez," he said.

"What?" She followed his gaze outside, where Babette, Miss Patty and several other townspeople were crowded around the window, staring at them.

"You wanna go upstairs?" She hesitated slightly before nodding, and followed him upstairs to the small apartment. "The town needs to be heavily medicated," he said, closing the door behind her.

"Yeah, or they have to find a really good TV show or something." She walked to the couch and plopped herself down on it, shortly joined by Luke.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey right back." They kissed again, and she let it go further this time, sliding to be right next to him and moving so she was leaning against the back of the couch. They kissed for a while, but it was different than it had been almost seven years ago. Then, it had been new, tentative, sweet, but now it was almost rushed, as if trying to get something over with. It wasn't just him, either, she was doing it too – _why _was she unbuttoning his shirt? _Why _was she letting his hands slowly lift up her own? She had an instinct for these sort of things, and she didn't want their second-first time to be like _this._ "Luke…" she murmured, as he proceeded to kiss her neck. It was sweet, that he was trying, but…no. Not now.It wasn't right. It wasn't that Luke was pushing her – they both wanted it, but she knew it _couldn't _be now. She rolled out from under him, falling onto the floor and standing up clumsily, tugging her shirt back down. He stood up, looking honestly concerned.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Luke, not _yet,"_ she said, smoothing down her hair. "Not _here, _on a _couch, _after our first date. It's too soon, I don't want to push it…God, I'm sorry," she said, covering her face with her hands, embarrassed.

"No, hey, don't be sorry," he said, fixing the top two buttons of his shirt. "You're right. We should wait." She nodded, breathing out a slight sigh of relief.

"Okay." She checked the clock – it was almost ten. "I should probably get back to Rory…"

"Okay. I'll drive you home." He guided her to the door with his hand on the small of her back, and she rested her head for a moment comfortably against his shoulder. She saw the townies scatter as they saw them approaching the door, and she and Luke got in his car. They didn't talk much on the drive back, but she could tell she hadn't ruined anything by saying it was too soon. They were both just…tired. Luke pulled up in front of her house, and they sat for a moment in the car.

"Did I make things weird…?" she asked quietly.

"No! God, no," he said quickly. "I'm just tired, that's all. Long day."

"Yeah," she agreed with a slight laugh. She looked up from her hands. "Okay, well…I'll see you tomorrow, then." He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, and again that goofy smile spread over her face.

"Bye," he said, and she waved as she walked up the steps and into the house. Sookie nearly attacked her at the doorway.

"How'd it go? How'd it go? Where'd he take you, what did he say, what did _you _say, what did you do?" she bombarded her. Lorelai went to sit on the couch, and Sookie joined her.

"It went well. He took me to this restaurant we went to once when we were younger – sort of an inside joke, and we decided to sort of start over, not look at this as a continuation of then, because – god, that was _so _complicated. And then we went back to the diner..."

"Did you? Did you?"

"No," she said firmly. "We're going to wait."

"That's good, though."

"Yeah, it was good. It's an adjustment, you know, _dating _Luke, not pining for him or being heartsick, but it's good. _So _good." Sookie smiled happily. "Where's Rory?"

"She just went to bed a few minutes ago. She wanted you to kiss her good night, though. I should get back home."

"Thanks so much, Sookie."

"Hey – anytime. And, you know, I'm happy to stay the night later on." She wiggled her eyebrows at Lorelai who rolled her eyes, and then Sookie left, and Lorelai went to kiss her daughter goodnight.


	17. Are They Looking At Me?

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Are They Looking At Me?

**Author's Note: **Glad you guys were so happy with the last chapter! So I wanted to draw it out a little more, but frankly I just can't resist some good old Java Junkie fluff, so here it is, the chapter you've been waiting for. (The second or third one to that effect, actually…) Enjoy! 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

Two soft kisses on the lips, and she was completely his, oblivious to anything and everything around her. That was what Lorelai had learned in the three weeks since she and Luke had begun the new phase of their life. She could be completely absorbed in a magazine or music, and all it took was him to tilt her chin up to him, look her right in the eye before kissing her, and then brushing her hair out of her face, watching her smile, and kissing her again. They would grin goofily at each other, or, depending whether or not they were in public, kiss again. And sometimes again. Things had gone pretty far – not in the junior high, first-second-base sense, but in the sense that they would spend even _hours _just kissing, cuddling. They hadn't made the final step, yet. They'd come close, maybe, to the point where they were lying down, or getting a little more frisky, but they tended to slow things down eventually, both keeping to the promise that they would wait. There was no definite waiting period, but they had made it three weeks so far. That seemed pretty solid, she figured.

On this particular occasion, Lorelai was sitting at the counter in the diner, staring out the window lazily, her chin resting in her hand. It was May 14th, and Rory was on a school overnight for two days at a camping site. She had been away for a day already, and Lorelai was feeling particularly lonely. Sure, after the infamous sharing-a-bed occasion she had become accustomed to Rory staying at Luke's sometimes without her, but she wasn't _with _Luke this time, and she was a little nervous, as any mother would be. She took a slow sip of coffee, leaving a drop on her lip. Luke came across her line of vision and she blinked, bringing herself back to reality. He grinned and reached over, pinpointing the drop of coffee onto his own finger and flicking it away.

"What are you doing?" she asked sleepily – it was, after all, eight in the morning. She and Luke were the only people in the diner; she had woken up early, haunted by the lack of Rory's presence.

"Making sure you're still alive," he said, sitting on the stool across from her.

"No luck there," she said with a smile, taking another sip of coffee. He grinned at her in that way of his – the loving, knowing, sweet grin. He gave her his hand and pulled her to stand in front of him, and then pulled her down to kiss her. She couldn't help but smile a little into the kiss, and she sort of fell against him, kissing him again. "Mmm." She straightened up and drained the last of her coffee. "You know," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice, "If I was observing us, I'd gag."

"Eh, that's okay. Everybody needs to gag a little once in a while." He flashed her a grin and went back behind the counter, heating up the stoves.

"So, Rory gets back tomorrow," she called back to him.

"Uh-huh."

"So if you wanted we could do something tonight," she hedged. "It'd be good, because I wouldn't have to ask Sookie to baby-sit. You free?"

"Yeah," he said, coming back. "Uh…why don't I just come over?" She blinked, and then shushed herself. They hung out at her house all the time.

"Sure. Say, six?"

"Six is good. I'll bring food."

"_Lots. _Bring some fries, too."

"Lots of those, too, I assume?" She smiled.

"Always accurate." She tilted her head, looking at him. "You know what's funny?"

"Many things. Anything in particular?"

"You look _exactly _the same as when I met you." He raised one eyebrow at her, clearly wondering if this was a compliment. "I mean, I can tell that you're older, but – same shirts, jeans, shoes – I swear that's the same hat, too." He ran a hand over the faded hat on his head and shrugged.

"Yeah, it is." She laughed.

"I knew it." She smiled flirtatiously at him, batting her eyebrows dramatically and making him laugh. "Do _I _look the same?" He looked at her for a moment.

"Mmm…you do, except for the hair, of course." She ran her fingers through her slightly thicker, slightly shorter hair. "And – something else." He stared at her for a moment. "Your eyes," he finally decided.

"What _about _my eyes?" she asked indignantly. "Aren't they the same _stunning _blue?" He grinned.

"They're older. Wiser, maybe?" She grinned a little, not sure what to make of that. "You're the same person, but you've gained…worldly knowledge, I guess you could say."

"Well…thanks, I guess?" she said, laughing. He grinned back and kissed her again. They had become like Siamese twins, lately. Luke wasn't big on PDAs, and neither was she, usually, so there wasn't a lot of hand holding in public, but they were nearly always together, sometimes with Rory, sometimes without. And around friends, they were constantly touching, whether they were holding hands or had their arms around each other or were merely sitting with their knees touching.

Just then, the early morning rush began to flood in, and the usually crowd took their seats around the diner, whipping out menus and chattering loudly. Lorelai pulled back from the kiss at the sudden noise, and looked at Luke. "What are _they _looking at?" she demanded, noticing them all sneaking glances at them. "What?" she said loudly to them.

"Nothing, doll," Babette said, smiling like a proud mama. "We're just so happy for you two." Lorelai rolled her eyes and straightened up.

"I'd better get to the inn. Alison's been on my tail all week. So I'll see you at six? I'll have movies."

"And I'll have food."

"We make a perfect match. Bye." She gave him a quick peck on the lips and flashed him a smile before heading out the door, the warm fuzzy feeling that had set up camp inside of her flooding her. She shook her head to clear it and drove off to the inn.

* * *

Luke arrived at six o'clock like clockwork, and Lorelai checked her reflection in the mirror quickly before going to get the door. Hair brushed? Check. Teeth brushed? Check. Outfit? Check. She wore jeans and a nice t-shirt, her usual indoor flip flops on her feet. She smiled at her reflection and then went to open the door.

"Hi," she said, letting him kiss her as a manner of greeting and letting him in, as he bore two bags of food. "Straight to the living room please, sir," she said jokingly, and followed him in. "So, I have a large selection of movies for us tonight, ranging from Dirty Dancing to, of course, Casablanca, and there's a few oddballs thrown in there. So, what'll it be? What's your favorite?" He moved to the stack of videotapes on the table, looking through them.

"Anything's fine. I haven't seen any of these."

"_None?" _

"No."

"Okay, I'm sorry, _newsflash, _May 14th 1991 – Luke Danes is officially a cultural moron. My god, have we got work to do. Come on. We're starting with Casablanca, because, well, it's Casablanca. And if you, by the end of tonight, _still _don't appreciate any of these movies, we, my friend, are over," she said decisively, sliding the first tape into the VCR. She cleared a couple of magazines off the couch and sat down, pulling Luke down to sit next to her.

"So, wha - "

"_Sh." _

"_What?" _She sighed and paused it.

"No talking!"

"That's ridiculous."

"No talking, no moving, eat _quietly, _and dear god, Luke, do _not _touch me because you will totally and utterly distract me." Noting his offended expression, she clarified, "That's a good thing."

"So, then what's the point of being with you?" She sighed, defeated, and picked up his arm and put it around her. She leaned against him.

"There. Happy?" He grinned.

"Very. Let's watch," he said, and gave her shoulder a squeeze. She glared at him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said mockingly, and she laughed and pressed play.

They watched for a while, and even though Lorelai had to _point out _the funny parts to Luke sometimes, he seemed to enjoy it. When the movie ended, around eight, she ejected it and polished off a burger.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Did you like it?" she asked, turning on the couch so she faced him.

"Yeah. It was pretty good."

"Just _pretty_ _good?" _He rolled his eyes.

"Very good. Excellent. Deserving of the best-movie-ever award, completely and utterly - " she shut him up with a sweet kiss, something that she had learned never ceased to work. The same applied to her, then again. He kissed her back, and they quickly progressed from light pecks to a full-blown high school style make-out session, something they seemed to be doing a lot of lately. But then again, however mature they seemed as parents, they _were _only twenty-three and twenty-five, the age where this was entirely appropriate, and they were alone it was very easy to pretend they were just another fresh-out-of-college, can't-keep-their-hands-off-each-other couple. They kissed for a while, until he pulled away this time, sitting up. She let out a strangled exclamation – _"Argh!" _

"Hey, don't complain," he said mock-defensively, giving her a hand to pull her up from where she sort of lay against the couch. "You're the one who laid down the rules." She sighed, frustrated.

"I know, and I still stand by that. It's just my sexually frustrated self letting loose." He laughed.

"Well, here, you wanna watch another movie to take your mind off of it?" She made a face.

"No, it's no fun watching a movie with you. Again, a good thing. No fun lying next to you when I _could _be lying - "

"Please, I beg of you, don't finish that sentence," he said quickly, holding up a hand. She made a face and took a bite of pie. She sighed and brought her legs up to her chest, leaning her chin on her knees. "Oh, there's the sad face."

"What sad face?" she said snippily.

"The sad-puppy face."

"There is _no _sad-puppy face."

"You forget, I know you." She rolled her eyes.

"You're right, I _do _forget. But this _isn't _my sad puppy face. I'm not going to show you my sad puppy face, because you'll be so moved you'll be forced to have sex with me, and that is exactly what we're trying to avoid. This is my contemplating-life face." He looked at her, clearly amused.

"And what, pray tell, are you contemplating."

"_Life," _she said in a duh tone of voice. "God. Pay _attention, _Luke." She bit her lip as she smiled. "This is fun."

"What, me humoring your insanity?"

"_No. _Well, yes. But just tonight, in general. A good night. We're having a good day." She chuckled. "God, we're so lovey-dovey it kills me. Except it doesn't."

"And _that _makes total sense." She smiled softly and crossed her legs under her, resting her hand in her chin. "Now _that's _the contemplating life pose." She assumed an extremely thoughtful expression, but she ended up looking ridiculous, and he told her so. She finally sat back and stretched out her legs onto the table, and then moved to lean her head on his shoulder. "Well, hello there." She turned her face to kiss his soft flannel shoulder, and kissed her way up his neck, cheek, and finally his lips. "Lorelai…" he said warningly, smoothing her hair out of her face.

"Whaaaat?" she said petulantly, burying her face in his shoulder like she had so many times when she was younger. The softness of the flannel mixed with the slightest trace of aftershave was, to her, the most comforting sensation in the world. She turned her face so he could hear her, resting her cheek against him. "So maybe I changed my mind," she said obstinately, looking up at him.

"No, don't change your mind."

"Why not? I'd think that _you'd _be all for it."

"Because," he started, "When you abandon your principles, you get _very angry. _At yourself, nonetheless."

"That is _so _not true."

"Oh, really? Okay, then. Remember when you were in ninth grade and you _swore _that you would not have a coming out party?" She smiled, knowing what was coming. "And then remember when you picked a dress that wasn't _totally, _and I quote, 'barf worthy?' And remember when you discovered you actually _liked _the dancing? And that you liked it because watching girls in white tutus wave their arms in the air and twirl was more amusing than television?"

"Yes…"

"And _then _remember that you threw a fit because you abandoned your principles?" She rolled her eyes yet again, smiling.

"So, that was one time. And besides, this time it will benefit _you, _too." She looked up at him. "Right?"

"Of course."

"So, then why not - "

"Okay, okay, I'll go on," he said, clearly enjoying himself. "You were completely and utterly against drinking at parties. That was your _thing. _That you would be the only sober one. And _then, _over the summer, you, again, _abandoned your principles."_

"That was _summer," _she protested lazily.

"And then you hated yourself for, _yet _again, _abandoning your principles." _At her dubious expression, his eyes lit up, clearly having found the epitome of her abandoning her principles and later hating herself. "And _Christopher - "_

"Oh, Luke, don't go there," she said, again lazily, very comfortable at the moment.

"Oh, I will," he said slightly playfully and mock-seriously. "I am _proving _a _point." _

"Bully." He glared at her warningly, and she giggled.

"You," he said, "Were very, _very _upset about how he was pressuring you. I remember. Distinctly. You cried, you were just plain old unhappy. And then you had what can _only _be described as a moment of pure _insanity, _you told him you would do it – you would sleep with him – and now, I don't _know, _but I would bet you anything you seriously hated yourself for that one. You. Abandoned. Your. Principles," he said, jabbing her shoulder lightly with his finger with each word. "Case in point." She was quiet, just raised an eyebrow, looking at him with a slightly amused and slightly pissed off expression. "I went a bit far, didn't I?"

"Well, you made your point," she said, sighing and leaning back on the couch. "And you're right," she added, looking over at him. "I regret it _basically _more than anything I've ever done." He nodded acceptingly. "Why is it that we can't seem to go a day without mentioning that whole…thing?" she asked out loud, meaning it as a rhetorical question.

"Well," he said," and she looked up, surprised. "I guess because…it's a big part of who we are. It gave us Rory, for one. If that _hadn't _happened, you would have just graduated from Vassar, or Smith, or something equivalent to that, and our friendship might have fizzled out. We most definitely wouldn't be here right now."

"That's true," she said. "But I wish we could just put it behind us."

"You want to put it behind us?" he asked, surprised.

"Well…I don't know. I mean, that was pretty painful."

"Hey, the first time usually - "

"That's not what I mean, and you know it," she cut in. "Now, I hate to intrude on your _unusually _good mood, but you should just know that it really _did _hurt me."

"Yeah, well, me too." She smiled a little.

"We've been over this before _way _too much, haven't we?"

"Little bit." She took his hands in hers, looking him in the eye.

"Luke."

"Stop it," he said, standing. She stood as well.

"But why _not?" _

"Because. You laid down a principle. I won't have you going abandoning any more of those."

"Do you have any idea how many stupid _principles _I've abandoned in my life? Hell, _we _abandoned one major one, by getting together. We made a pretty damn solid agreement not to."

"Well, if you _want _we could go back to before," he said sarcastically, a twinkle in his eye.

"Look," she said, sighing. "I never said there was a set time limit, I just said not _then. _So why not _now?" _She looked at him for a moment and then laughed. "God, I cannot _believe _I am begging you to have sex with me." She thought for a second. "Okay, you know what, maybe I am."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, stepping towards her and running a hand through her hair to the base of her neck, turning her face up towards his.

"Yeah. I mean…" she paused as he kissed her. "When we did it, it was pretty good."

"Just _pretty good?" _She giggled, remembering what _he _had said earlier that night.

"Very good. Excellent. Deserving of the best sex ever award. Completely and utterly - " and just like she had to him, he shut _her _up with a kiss. "Yeah?" she asked, her voice hopeful.

"If you want to."

"But I'll be _abandoning my principles," _she said in a faux-snottish voice as they moved towards the stairs, holding both hands and looking at each other goofily.

"Hey, like you said," he said, kissing her again. "You never set a time."

"So I wouldn't be abandoning my principles?" They kissed yet again, longer this time, slowly moving up the stairs.

"Well," he said, "It's only really bad if you regret it later."

"And I sure as hell won't be doing that," she finished, letting out a surprised half-gasp as he kissed her against the wall, and slid her arms around his neck. "So…?" He didn't answer, just continued the journey upstairs to the lands journeyed only once before by them.

* * *

Lorelai stared at the ceiling, a goofy grin on her face, as she caught her breath. When she could speak again, she said decisively,

"So it wasn't just the heat of the moment last time or whatever." He shook his head.

"Hell, no."

"We have good sex. _Damn _good," she proclaimed, and he laughed. "Record breaking. _Totally _deserving of that best-sex-ever award aforementioned." She groped for the sheet that had been pushed down to the bottom of the bed and pulled it up to cover them, at least partially. "Not that I have much to compare it to," she added, rolling over to rest her head on his chest. "You, either." She peeked up at him. "Right?"

"Right. Don't worry," he said with a slight chuckle, kissing the top of her head. "But do we _have _to get into the whole who-we-slept-with-while-we-were-apart deal?" She raised her eyebrows, surprised.

"Hey, you know all of mine."

"Oh yeah?"

"Chris," she said, tilting her head to look up at him.

"No one else?"

"Nope. I mean, almost, with this one guy I - "

"You know, I don't need the details," he said quickly. She laughed, kissing his chest.

"So…what about you?" she asked faux-casually, turning her face so he couldn't see her blush.

"Oh, come on - "

"Hey, not fair that you know mine and I don't know yours." He sighed.

"One."

"One. Other girl?"

"One other girl."

"Oh," she stated, pleasantly surprised. "Well…_who?" _He made a scolding noise. "Okay, okay. That's all I needed to know, anyway." She tilted her face up way high and kissed him. "That's relieving, then."

"So we can move past this now?"

"Most definitely." She moved so she was lying on him, separated only by a thin layer of sheet. They kissed again, getting right back into that "heat of the moment." She couldn't help but smile, she was just that content. "Round two, apparently," she murmured as they slowly rolled over. They just kept kissing, falling into the now-familiar rhythm that was Luke and Lorelai.


	18. Is This The Place We Used To Love?

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Is This The Place We Used To Love?

**Author's Note: **Wow, sorry this took so long to upload. I took a while to think of a good plot for this chapter, because I need some drama. A slight incongruence that I'll ask you not to mention in your reviews: In the show, Rory's birthday is in October, therefore she would be in kindergarten in this story. Except that in _this _story her birthday is in late August, so she would be in first grade even though I've been saying she's in kindergarten. So please ignore the second-grade references, because now she is going into second grade, despite the incongruence. Thanks, and enjoy! 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

After they got the wonderfully inevitable over with, things got very serious, very fast. In the three months that followed, Luke and Lorelai went from "casual" dating – though how with their history it was _casual _was beyond her – to a full blown relationship. It wasn't just the sex, though it _was _an important factor. It was more the fact that for the past seven years, they had been dwelling on their _first _time, and now that they had dozens more times to compare it to, they could finally move past that.

Rory seemed pretty oblivious to their relationship. Sure, she noticed that Luke was around the house more, but it never occurred to her that the reason he was there in the morning was that him and her mother were waking up at midnight so they could be together without scarring their daughter for life. And they did – do that, that is. They only slept at her house, because they couldn't exactly _abandon _Rory, though a few times Sookie agreed to watch Rory so that Luke and Lorelai could have a night together without trying to keep it down. But at the crap shack, Lorelai would stay awake as usual while Luke slept, and woke him around midnight when she was sure Rory was asleep to have a late night tryst.

Again, though, their relationship was about so much more than the sex. It was summer, so Rory was out and about on her own most of the day – with Lane, or reading in the town square, or at the day camp Taylor had tried to arrange for the kids of Stars Hollow. Lorelai had shorter hours during the summer, and Luke's were pretty flexible. They spent almost every waking – and sleeping – moment of the day together, sometimes just sitting in the same room reading or listening to music. She dragged him along shopping and for girlie lunches, and in return put up with the occasional baseball game and bar night. The town quickly became obsessed with them, and Lorelai could have sworn that they had a secret newsletter going about the two of them, because sometimes they knew her plans for the next day before _she _did – Babette would whisper to her that the food at some café in Woodbury was good, and to make sure she ordered the panini, and a half hour _later, _Luke would spring the idea of lunch to her. People nudged and smiled when they saw the two of them in town together, and they were the topic of many a town meeting – _I really think they should have more of their dates in Stars Hollow. It'd be great for business. _Luke was utterly aggravated by it, but Lorelai found it hilarious. "Come on," she'd tell him. "It's like we're celebrities. We're Stars Hollow's Ross and Rachel. You gotta love that."

The summer months passed quickly, but blissfully, a whirlwind of coffee dates and midnight sex and hours and hours just spent _together. _September approached way too quickly, and before Lorelai knew it, it was August 26th, two days before Rory's birthday. She entered the diner with a list five pages long in her hand, walking haphazardly as she read it. Luke guided her to the counter as if concerned for her safety, and plucked the list out of her hand to look at it.

"What the hell is this?" he asked, looking scared. "Lassos? _Spurs?" _He looked at her warily. "What website have _you _been on?" She pushed him away playfully and grabbed the lists back.

"_Nothing _like that,"she said, glaring at him. "It's for Rory's birthday."

"Oh, right. August 28th, right?" She grinned.

"Right. The timing's almost _too _perfect, don't you think?" He chuckled and looked at the list again.

"So what's all this?"

"Plans. I'm throwing her a cowboy-style seventh birthday. My house. Tuesday. Be there or be…spurred, I guess." He chuckled and poured her a cup of coffee. "So, you _will _be there, right?"

"Of course."

"Great. I made you your own list." She handed him two pages. "Food stuff, mostly…" she became very interested in her coffee as he looked over the list.

"No."

"Oh, come _on!" _

"No," he said, jabbing his finger at the list, "No, no, no. _No."_

"But - "

"And again. No."

"You'd make such a _good_ cowboy, though!" she protested. _"I'm _dressing up as head cowgirl!" He set down the list, looking quite amused.

"Head cowgirl?"

"It's a thing," she said defensively. "It exists. Now. _Please? _It'll be no fun if it's all cow_girls!" _

"What were you on when you thought I would agree to do this?" She sighed and crossed it off the list.

"Fine. But you better come up with _something _fun, because Rory was really excited about the whole cowboy thing. She said it would be the best part of her birthday." He hesitated.

"Oh…" She looked up hopefully. "Okay, _fine. _But I will not wear spurs. Or leather chaps. I can't tell if you're throwing a birthday party for a seven year old or a bachelorette party for someone _really _into S&M."

"Yay!" she clapped her hands. "I can't _wait _until Rory sees. So, it's a surprise party - "

"It is."

"Yeah."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"If it's a surprise party, how come Rory's so excited about me being a cowboy?" She grinned sheepishly. "God. You can_not _use the Rory card again for a _long _time, okay? No cowboys. No lassos, no spurs, no chaps – nothing you could _ever _find in a sex store. Got it?"

"Fine, fine. So just a hat, then?" He glared at her but finally nodded. "Great! I myself will be clad in a cargo skirt, a tank top, braids and a hat."

"A cargo skirt?"

"Yes. Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Just that…it doesn't seem very _cow-girl-_ish."

"Luke," she said, leaning over and speaking slowly and deliberately. "There is only so long that I will have these legs, and an even shorter time until it becomes unacceptable for me to flaunt them. I don't _care _if it's not very cow-girl-ish. Deal." He laughed. "And besides, it's not _cargo _that's the important part. It's the color. Beige."

"Beige," he repeated.

"Like _sand."_

"Oh, of course, how silly of me not to realize."

"Oh, shut up." She smiled. "I gotta go. Kiss?" They kissed quickly. "Mmmbye. I'll see you tonight, mmkay?"

"Sure."

* * *

"Luuuuke!" she whisper-shouted, darting into her bedroom and catapulting herself onto the bed. "She's asleep! Finally, _finally, _after getting over the nightmares that seem to attack on a nightly basis around 10 p.m., Rory is officially asleep!" She nudged his sleeping form. "Luke."

"Mmmmph."

"_Luke. _Rory's asleep. Get up."

"Mmmph," he said louder, rolling over. "Jeez. What _time _is it?"

"It's one, you old man. Lordy."

"Too late."

"It's _never _too late." She planted a big kiss on his lips. "Too late _now?" _

"Humph," he stated, and she laughed.

"You're articulate at one in the morning."

"Lorelai, I have to be up at six a.m…"

"And so you'll sleep all the better. We have this argument _every night, _Luke. We are not an old married couple. Sex should not be an obligation. Sex should be something you _want _to do."

"Not at _one in the morning!" _

"Oh, yeah?" she moved so she lay sort of on top of him, kissing him harder and for longer. Finally she felt him kiss her back, as he _always _did, even after complaint after complaint of his sleepiness. "I knew it," she said with a smile as they continued to kiss.

"_Next _summer," Luke said, kissing her collarbone, "We ship Rory off to summer camp, and we have the house to ourselves for eight weeks."

"Rory and I have a no-camp pact," she said as her robe came off, leaving her in a nighty.

"What the hell is that?"

"For you, it's a one a.m. pact." Then they shut up, and got down to business.

* * *

On Monday, the rain began. It was a drizzle at first, accompanied by high winds, and quickly morphed into a full-on thunderstorm. It was, after all, August, and peak hurricane season. Stars Hollow looked like India in a monsoon, and it took only two hours for Lorelai to forget what it felt like to be dry.

She walked casually through the torrential downpour into the diner, figuring she was already soaked to the bone, and there was no point in wasting precious breath in running. She squelched in and plopped herself down on a slippery barstool.

"The party's off," she announced, squeezing at least a pound of water out of her hair.

"What?" Luke exclaimed. "Why?"

"Because. The roads are totally flooded. There's a hurricane on Long Island, and we're getting the butt end of it. Hurricane Talia, I think. Anyways…no one will be able to get to our house. I guess we'll just postpone it until next week."

"But then Rory'll be in school." She groaned, putting her soaking head down on the counter. "Head. Up. I don't need _every _surface of this place getting as wet as it is outside." She sighed and sat up. "So, no party?"

"I guess not. Maybe next weekend…"

"Maybe," he agreed. She sighed. Rory had been _so _looking forward to her birthday…and it was their tradition to do it right before school started. Oh well. She would understand, what with the monsoon and all. "So, can you even get to work?" She shook her head.

"No. I couldn't even drive – there's, like, three inches of rain, and the winds are ridiculous. I walked here."

"You must be soaking." She shrugged and grinned.

"You don't really notice it after a while. Have you even been outside?"

"Are you kidding me? I _hate _getting wet."

"Really?" She smiled. "I kinda like it. It's very…liberating." She shivered – the temperatures had lowered to at least seventy degrees outside, which wasn't very cool, but given her current soaked state, she was freezing. "Coffee?" She blew on her hands to warm them.

"Love the coat, by the way."

"What?" She looked down at her bright yellow raincoat. "Oh." She grinned sheepishly. "Thanks. I guess." She grabbed the warm coffee cup. "Mmm."

"So, where _is _Rory?"

"Oh, she's at home. She gets colds easily, and I don't want her to die or something from going outside. If you haven't noticed, it's raining."

"_Really? _Because, you know, I hadn't noticed." She made a face at him.

"For your information, she's perfectly content to spend a day reading. I told her I'd be back in a few hours." She laughed, remembering something. "Oh, _by the way. _She apparently woke up last night around 1:30, and this morning she asked me if I felt okay, and I was like, 'What?' And she said because she thought I was crying last night." It took him a second, and then he laughed.

"Guess we should keep it down more next time."

"Most definitely. I don't need to have her walk in on something she should _not _be seeing." He chuckled.

"So how are you managing things at the inn?"

"Well, there were only about ten guests anyways. And Simon, the night manager, was there when the roads started to flood, so he's filling in as daytime manager. Allison's paying him triple or something, of course." She took a long sip of coffee and checked the clock. "Jeez. Three o'clock. This day is going so _slowly." _She exhaled heavily. "I'm bored," she announced.

"Are you four, as well? What do you want me to do, get out your chutes and ladders or something?" She stuck out her tongue at him. "Oh, _that's _better." She sighed and looked out at the dreary landscape. "This sucks. The best _part _about Rory's birthdays are that we can celebrate them _on _her birthday." Luke looked thoughtful, and then shrugged.

"Well, we'll plan a great party for next week. I guess that's the best we can do." She sighed.

"Yeah. _Stupid _rain."

"Stupid," he agreed. She drained the coffee and stood up.

"Anyway, I should get home. I have to call the inn and check when I should come back, and I don't want to leave Rory for so long." He nodded.

"Okay. You want a ride?" He motioned to his station wagon, but she shook her head.

"You won't be able to drive. Besides, I kinda like the rain."

"Crazy lady." She kissed him.

"And you love me for it. I'll see you later, 'kay?" He nodded, and she left the diner, throwing herself into the cool rain. It rolled off her ridiculous raincoat and polkadotted boots, but her sweatpants were soaked through. Her hair, which she had cut recently to a little below her shoulders, slapped against her face and was as wet as if she had been swimming, and raindrops pooled on her upper lip. She walked home leisurely, reveling in the rain, and final squelched into the house. Rory ran into the front hall.

"Stop!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Rory thrust dry clothes at her, and two towels.

"Go to the bathroom and change," she ordered. "Don't get the whole _house _wet." Lorelai laughed at her daughter's bossiness, and went to change. She hung her clothes in the bathroom and went out into the living room, where Rory was curled up with a book.

"Hey, so Rory," she started, sitting next to her. "You know we were supposed to have your birthday tomorrow…" Rory's fell.

"Were?"

"Yeah…no one will be able to get here, sweetie. It's ridiculous out there. But – hey," she said, tilting Rory's chin so she looked at her. "We're going to do it next weekend. Okay? September 7th?" Rory nodded.

"Okay. Thanks, mom." Lorelai smiled half-heartedly, feeling utterly awful.

* * *

The next day the rain reduced to a perfectly normal thunderstorm, and Lorelai and Rory spent the day in the house, watching movies and eating gross amounts of food in celebration of her birthday. A real hoopla of a party. The roads were totally drivable, but the party had already been called off, and now they were just moping around in disappointment.

Lorelai had to drop by the inn for an hour around noon, and left Rory at the house. But when she returned, she couldn't seem to find her. It wasn't unusual for Rory to go out, but she usually left a note or something. Lorelai scoured the house, and found no note.

That maternal instinct roared up in her, and she rampaged the house, looking under beds, in closets, searching every possible place for a note. Nothing. She ran to Babette's house, but Babette seemed oddly out of sorts and hadn't seemed to have heard anything. _None _of the neighbors she had asked had seen or heard everything.

Near hysterics, Lorelai ran to the diner, looking utterly absurd in a canary yellow raincoat over her work clothes, and burst into the diner.

"_Luke!" _she shouted, racing to the counter, oblivious to her surroundings. "I went to work and I came back and Rory's not home and I looked everywhere and asked everyone and I can't find her and I - "

"Mom." She looked to the right, where Rory sat with a paper hat perched upon her head. "Mom, it's okay, I'm right here." Sputtering, Lorelai turned to Luke.

"What – why – _Luke?!" _

"I called you," he said lamely, gesturing to the phone. "I came by the house to pick you guys up – I planned the party, see…" he paused for a second and then continued, having received no praise whatsoever. "But you weren't there, and people were waiting. So I got Rory and called you – a lot! But you must have had your cell on. I just tried the house…"

"I was out," she said fiercely. "Can we talk?" He looked at her warily and sighed.

"Yeah, okay, let's go upstairs." She marched upstairs past the hoards almost-second-graders, and slammed the door behind Luke.

"What the _hell _is the _matter _with you?!" she demanded, her voice hysterical. "Do you have any _idea _what I was thinking? Shit, Luke, I thought she was hurt, or been _kidnapped _or something! What the _hell _were you thinking just _taking _her?"

"Hey, I tried to call," he said, his voice a little raised.

"So _what? _Unless you're sure you can reach me, Luke, you do _not _take my kid to your diner without letting me know! _What the hell were you thinking?" _He was quiet. "Luke!"

"Your kid?" She sighed.

"Okay, look - "

"_Your _kid? _My _diner? As if I need your _permission?"_

"Not at all, but you have to let me know!"

"She's my kid too, Lorelai. You can't just _decide - "_

"_I can't just decide? _I am _not _the one who that applies to – you thought you were being this big hero, but in doing so you took Rory and didn't _tell _me!"

"You should have your phone on!"

"Says the guy who doesn't believe in cell phones, who is entirely _unreachable _in case of an emergency if he's not at the freaking _diner!" _

"Stop shouting, everyone can hear you."

"_I should stop shouting? Are you fucking kidding me?" _She paced wildly, seething with anger.

"Lorelai - "

"Don't you _dare _Lorelai me. You are _unbelievable." _She glared at him, shaking her head. "You know what, Luke? Go downstairs. Enjoy your little _party. _I'll go home. Feel free to let me know if you're going to whisk them all off to a _nightclub _or something. Screw you." With that she went back downstairs, ignoring Rory's protests and storming back to the crap shack, every warm and fuzzy thought she had felt for Luke in the past few months zapped away.

* * *

Of course, an hour later, she heard the sound of the station wagon pulling up in front of her house, and sighed heavily. Without giving him a chance to knock, she walked out onto the porch. Luke was getting out of the station wagon, and she saw Rory inside, her eyes wide.

"Hey," he said after a beat, swinging his hands together.

"You brought Rory back? Good. I was afraid you'd _decided _she was moving in with you. Or that you two were moving to Beijing."

"Stop being a bitch, all right?" he said sharply, and she raised her eyebrows, stepping down one step, with her hand on the railing. The rain slowly began to drench her, but she paid no mind. They had to speak loudly over the rain, and his hair was stuck to his face, it was so wet. She didn't care. "That's not who you are, and we won't solve anything like that."

"So how was the party?" she asked coldly.

"Well. Rory was in tears for half an hour after you left – they _heard _you screaming your head off, you know. She thought you'd abandoned her or something. I had to get everybody picked up, and then I brought her home."

"Well, I'm sorry for the _inconvenience." _  
"Goddamnit, Lorelai, I was trying to do a nice thing! I'm sorry that it backfired, but what do you want me to do? I'm sorry, okay? I'm really sorry, but don't let this ruin what we finally have!" She was silent. "I mean, it was _you _who wanted us so bad, and now you're risking losing it because _you had your cell phone off?"_ She stared at him through her rain-soaked hair; her glare could melt ice. "What?!"

"_I'm the one who wanted us so bad?" _she spat. "So, you didn't want it, then? You were just, what, _placating _me?" He sighed.

"No, Lorelai, _god _know! You know how much I love you!" She blinked, surprised, and pleased, even through her anger.

"Actually, I didn't. I thought _you _knew how much _I _loved _you – _I made that pretty clear – but you're so…closed off, I don't know…"

"Closed off? What do you mean?" She stared at him, incredulous that he didn't even _realize _what he did.

"You have never let me in, Luke!" she exclaimed as they walked toward each other so they were about two feet apart. "Never! You know _everything _about me, because I spill my freaking guts to you every time we're together, but I never, _ever _have gotten to hear what you're really thinking." He didn't respond. "Luke…"

"I'm so sorry," he finally said. "If that's what it seems like. I never, ever meant for you to feel that way. And I am _so _sorry about what happened today. Honest. It was a real honest mistake – you know I would never do something like that to you on purpose, because I just love you so much."

"Yeah, well, I love you too." They smiled slightly. "God, I haven't said that for – what, seven years?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "So, we're okay?"

"We're okay."

"Good." He stepped forward tentatively, and kissed her lightly in the rain. A perfect kiss, really. She smiled. "Okay, so…"

"We should get out of the rain." She gestured to Rory to come out, and the little girl did. "Rory…" Lorelai sighed. "I'm so sorry for ruining your birthday. I was completely out of line. Can you forgive me?" Rory considered, and then nodded. "Good," she said, and looked at Luke. "Because…the celebration's not over yet." So the small, quirky family went inside, and stayed up late watching movies and talking and eating, all anger and remorse forgotten.


	19. Is This The Place

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Is This The Place

**Author's Note:** I lied. The girl Luke slept with _is _significant – at least in this chapter. That's all _I'll _say. Happy belated Halloween...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Story and chapter titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know, by Keane.

In Lorelai's past, Halloweens had always been a big to-do. From age twelve she had attended parties, costumes getting more and more revealing, substances getting more and more illegal, until there was nothing Halloween-y about the parties except that it _was _quite scary walking into a room and finding that everyone was doing something just short of sex. Being from the family she was from, her costumes had, as a young child, been original and nice but totally un-Lorelai. Once she began going to parties for Halloween, she had ditched the princess dress and exchanged it for a tube top, switched the pantyhose for fishnets, and changed the paten leather shoes to leather boots.

And then after she had Rory, her Halloweens were virtually nonexistent, except for taking Rory trick or treating. She would generally hang a few caramel apples from the tree by her house and yell "Go for it!" to any kids who came by.

All of this history wasn't leading up to a big Halloween, her first one with Luke. There was no party – Luke was against Halloween, as he was against Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's day and anything that involved unnecessary merriment. But that's not to say that this Halloween wasn't scary, as all Halloweens should be. Maybe not scary in the traditional sense, but definitely…_scary._

* * *

_October 31__st__, 1991, Star's Hollow. Luke's Diner, 9:00 am._

"Luke, just _one _pumpkin."

"Taylor, _no."_

"How will it hurt you?"

"It will hurt my _principles." _Lorelai smiled as she sipped her coffee, observing, and chimed in –

"Oh, the principles. Don't want to abandon those. Wait, I thought that was _me?" _She bit her lip playfully. "Good times." He shot her a look and she shrugged happily, and swiveled on her chair to continue observing, completely devoid of subtlety.

"Then at _least _put some seasonal options on your menu."

"Like _what?" _

"Like…pumpkin pancakes. No? What about pumpkin flavored coffee?"

"What is your pumpkin obsession?"

"Yeah, Taylor, even I have to disagree with the pumpkin coffee one. That sounds truly revolting," Lorelai said helpfully.

"Well…then…what about some black and orange streamers? Or a ghost?"

"Oh, yes, a ghost!" Lorelai exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I'm sure Kirk would be _more _than happy to do it." Luke glared at her.

"You're not helping."

"I'm not trying to."

"Then shut up." She made a face at him and sipped her thankfully non-pumpkin flavored coffee.

"Well, Luke? A ghost?"

"Taylor," he said slowly and clearly, leaning over the counter menacingly. "I will not, and never will, and never _have, _do anything _remotely _seasonal. Not only do I find it disgusting, but I would be_ abandoning my principles."_

"Seriously, man, that should be our mantra," Lorelai said, and slapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry. Not supposed to talk." Taylor sighed, gathering up his charts.

"Very well, then, don't come running to me when the entire town goes to Weston's to enjoy _their _pumpkin lattes."

"Oh, believe me. I won't. Get out, Taylor," he snapped, and Taylor left, grumbling. Luke rounded on Lorelai. "You are absolutely no help." She stared at him with wide eyes, holding her mouth shut with a hand. "Oh, stop it."

"So I can talk now?"

"Again, I will say it: _no help." _

"Who cares? That was fun. I love it when you yell at Taylor," she said mock-sexily, and he rolled his eyes.

"Don't you have to go to work or something?"

"Nope," she said. "I got the day off – one of those weird scheduling flukes. Kinda blows, though. Halloween at the inn is always fun."

"That sounds lovely," he said sarcastically.

"So, we're going to the carnival tonight, right?"

"I'm sorry, what?" She laughed.

"The Halloween Carnival. You know – haunted house, which, I _must _say, inevitably turns into a makeout spot for teenagers…, what else, what else…cider, _pumpkins! _Luke, we _have _to go, there'll be _pumpkins!"_

"You're incorrigible."

"_You're _in…funful," she said decisively. "Pleaseeee can we go? I won't make you go to the haunted house, I promise." He sighed.

"_Fine. _But no pumpkins."

"Just a few pumpkins," she agreed. "Thanks, babe. I gotta run. Gotta make my apples. Kiss." She kissed him quickly. "Love you. Bye."

* * *

_October 31__st__, 1991, Star's Hollow. The Crap Shack, 10:30 am._

"So, what now?" Lorelai asked, turning to face Sookie who was sitting in the kitchen. Lorelai looked utterly ridiculous in a towering white chef's hat and a bright pink flowered apron, brandishing a spatula in the air. "What must the maestro do to complete her specialty? Or would it be maestra?" Sookie giggled.

"Stir it until it starts to bubble," she ordered. Lorelai obliged.

"God, I must say, burning sugar and butter look _yuuuumy. _I might just have to eat them all myself. I'm so _glad _I decided to make them myself this year." Sookie smiled warily.

"Yes…let's just hope they turn out all right."

"You doubt my inabilities?" Lorelai demanded in a French voice, waving the burning sugar coated spatula.

"_Lorelai!" _

"Oops! Sorry. Did I get you?"

"No. But be careful. Ooh, Lorelai, it's bubbling."

"Oop!" She switched off the oven. "Now what?"

"Pour it over the apples, quick, before it hardens." She obeyed, splattering the hot solution all over the place. _"Careful." _

"I _am, _jeez. I'll clean it up later."

"Lick it up, you mean." She shrugged sheepishly, and turned from the apples. "Lorelai…"

"Yeah?" Sookie fidgeted.

"I have to tell you something."

"Okay." She sat down at the table expectantly, her sugared-up fingers tapping against the wood.

"Um…so, you know Sophia?" She stared at him blankly. "Sophia. Sophia Winters."

"Nope."

"Oh, come on, of course you do. She's the one…" Sookie looked at her. "You don't know, do you?"

"Sookie, tell me, you're freaking me out here." Sookie fidgeted more. _"Sookie!" _

"Okay…see, Sophia Winters – god, you really don't know?"

"Sookie!"

"Nineteen eighty eight. Luke was…what, twenty-two?"

"Wait, _Luke? _Sookie, give me the whole story." She twisted her oven mitt anxiously between her hands.

"Okay, okay. Luke and Sophia - "

"_Oh."_

"What, you know?"

"No, just…Luke and Sophia. So that's the girl, right? The girl he slept with. Sophia Winters. _God. _That's so _obnoxious. Sophia Winters. _Sounds like she belongs on a soap opera."

"You haven't even heard the whole story yet." Lorelai made a face. So now she would hear about this girl, the _one _girl. Even though she'd let the fact he'd slept with someone else go, she couldn't help but think that there was a _difference. _He hadn't been as emotionally _screwed up _as she had – he had been eighteen, for one. It wasn't like _her _warped mind, telling her that she'd agreed to sleep with Chris – gotta keep your promises. She really would have loved to know _why _he had done it.

"Okay, fine, what's the whole story?" Sookie sighed.

"They dated for a few months. They were pretty serious. I mean, she told everyone he was the love of her life." Lorelai boiled inside. Serious? _Serious? _He had a serious, _loving _relationship?! "Hey, but it's not all bad! He broke up with her because of _you." _She brightened.

"Really?"

"He told her that he was in love with someone else – had been for _four years?" _She smiled, satisfied.

"Oh. Okay then." She stood up to go back to her apples, and then stopped. "Wait – so what was the actual thing you had to tell me?" Sookie sighed.

"Um…well, see, Sophia lived in Stars Hollow, but then she went to London on business, but now - "

"She's back," Lorelai finished, and sighed. "God. How do you _know _all of this, anyways?"

"Patty and Babette," Sookie said, as if this were obvious. "They know everything." Lorelai ran her hands through her hair, pushing it back from her face. It shouldn't have bothered her – well, maybe it _should _have, but not _so _much – she and Luke were in a serious relationship, had been for five months now. Or seven years, depending on how you looked at it. And now this _ex-girlfriend, _he was the _love of her life?! _And she had a name that just sounded like she belonged on Days of Our Lives…and she was _back. _She knew it couldn't – _wouldn't – _harm her relationship with Luke, but things were bound to get complicated.

"How long has she been back?" she finally asked, resting her hands on her cheeks.

"A few days," Sookie said hesitantly.

"A few _days? _And Luke didn't even _tell _me?!"

"Oh, no, honey, he doesn't know she's back!" Lorelai sobered.

"Oh." She smiled. "Okay, then, here's what we'll do, when he _does _notice she's back, I'll _conveniently _be like, 'Oh, who's that?' And then he'll tell me and it'll be okay. Right?" Sookie nodded.

"Right…" Lorelai sighed, and stood. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk," she said, tossing her oven mitts down on the table and taking off her chef's hat and apron. She pulled on her navy peacoat and began the walk to town through the brisk autumn air, letting the leaves swirl down around her. Happy Halloween, indeed.

* * *

_October 31__st__, 1991, Star's Hollow. Doose's Market , 1:00 pm._

Lorelai rummaged through the shelves, tossing random packages into her basket, muttering under her breath. She emptied an entire shelf of wheat germ into the basket, followed by three packs of Stewart's grape soda. She hadn't meant to come to Doose's – she had _meant _to go to the diner, but she had found that she couldn't face Luke until he knew that she knew. She wanted to go to Weston's, but then Luke would have _known _that something was wrong, because she only went there when they were having a rift. And she had no desire to go anywhere else, so she had found herself in Doose's, where Taylor had bombarded her with questions about what she wanted. To avoid getting arrested for _shoplifting _or whatever else Taylor might accuse her of, she had begun randomly filling a basket, and here she was.

After a bit she went through the contents of the basket and had to laugh, and proceeded to empty it and refill it with actual edible food. She paid for it and carried the paper bag out on to the street, crossing the street to go to the diner. She took a deep breath and strolled casually and purposefully inside.

"Hey," Luke said, looking up as she came in. She sat at the counter and set down her bag before looking up. He leaned in for a kiss but she turned her head the slightest fraction to the right so he got her cheek – it wasn't that she was worried about this Sophia girl, but she wasn't in a very lovey-dovey mood.

"So, what's new?" she asked casually, sipping the coffee he had set down in front of her.

"What, since the four hours ago that I saw you? Not much."

"Mmm." She set down the cup.

"What'd you get at Doose's?"

"Oh…just stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Why do you care?" she asked defensively, but he was chuckling. _"What?" _

"No, just that…why you need groceries is beyond me. You never cook." _Did Sophia cook? _Her jealous mind asked, and she shushed it. God, she irritated herself beyond belief. Who was to say that he and Sophia had really been serious, anyways? Just because people slept together didn't mean they were serious. She had been by no mean serious with Chris, but _she _had slept with _him. _And besides, Miss Patty and Babette were wrong about this sort of stuff all the time.

"Well, I know you like to cook at my house," she said with a shrug, and took another sip of coffee. She sighed, and decided she would just ask him. They were in a committed, trusting relationship – they weren't in junior high. There was no reason she should feel like she had to tread on eggshells around _any _subject. "Luke." He raised his eyebrows at her serious tone.

"You okay?" Instead of answering, she continued.

"Look, I was talking to Sookie and she said that Sophia Winters is back in town, and - "

"What?" he spluttered. She blinked.

"Uh, Luke - "

"Oh, man, is she _kidding _me?" She frowned, utterly perplexed.

"Um…I don't…know…" She continued quickly. "Anyways, I know you were with her while we were apart – you _told _me, anyways – and since she's going to be in your life, again, probably, I just thought maybe…I don't know, we could talk? About how you're going to…handle this? Because, I mean, I know that if Chris suddenly waltzed into town, that's what you'd want to do, and I don't even know who this girl _is, _but - "

"Lorelai," he stopped her. "Listen to me. Yes, Sophia and I were together for a little while, and yes, she was that…the one girl, but the reason we broke up was because I was still so hung up over _you." _She smiled slightly.

"Yeah. That's what Sookie said. But…I mean, isn't she going to want to see you?"

"Probably not," he admitted. "She was completely _obsessed _with me, and when I broke it off she went kinda nuts and moved to London." She snorted. "So you could say we didn't exactly end on the best of terms." At her doubtful expression, he leaned down to where she sat. "Lorelai." She couldn't help but smile a little. He did that little thing that always got her – tilted her chin up so she looked at him. "Don't worry. Okay?"

"I'm not worried," she quipped, and then at his knowing expression said what she must have said ten times daily – "You know me too well." Which he did. He knew her better than anyone, really. "Okay, okay, I won't worry. I gotta go drop these groceries off at home…before they ferment or something." He laughed. "What? I know stuff."

"I'll see you in the town square at seven?"

"Sure. Bye, doll." She kissed him for real this time, and noticed the knowing expression on his face. "Stop it," she scolded him, and he grinned after her as she left.

* * *

_October 31__st__, 1991, Star's Hollow. The Town Square, 6:45 pm._

Lorelai and Rory stood in the town square by the gazebo, drinking apple cider and bundled up in sweaters and jackets and scarves. They were early, for once, but the festivals were quite exciting for them, even though Luke considered them utter crap.

"Rory!" Lane cried, running over. Rory glanced at Lorelai, and she motioned for her to go off with Lane.

"Thanks!" Rory called over her shoulder, and Lorelai smiled. She decided that she had at least fifteen minutes until she was supposed to meet Luke, and from what she could see he was still at the diner, so instead she walked around a little. She sat down on a bench by the traditional bonfire, letting the heat from the flames warm her face. After a few minutes she realized it was past seven, and there was no sign of Luke, so she got up and strolled to the diner. He wasn't downstairs, but she could hear movement upstairs, so after a moment's hesitation she headed up the stairs. She opened the door to the apartment in time to see a blonde head pushing itself on Luke's, lips on lips, her hands on his face. Lorelai's eyes widened, and she stood in the doorway, staring. After a few startled seconds, Luke pushed her away – not gently, but not incredibly forcefully, either. Just someone…breaking a kiss. He started to say something and then looked up to see her in the doorway.

"Oh, jeez, I meant to tell you - " he started, but she had already turned and was down the stairs in an instant. She found herself sliding down the outside of the dine to sit on the sidewalk, completely in shock. That girl had _kissed _him – Sophia, no doubt – and he hadn't pushed her away, he hadn't shoved her back, he had simply stopped the kiss. _Gently. _Not like someone who already had a serious girlfriend would do. Just a few seconds later the diner door clanged shut, and Luke was standing before her. Just like he had almost a year ago, he offered her his hand, but this time she shoved it away violently. He stepped back, surprised, as she stood up by herself. "Lorelai…"

"I don't want to hear it," she said coldly. "You meant to _tell _me? I don't _believe _this, Luke! I never would have pegged you for the cheating guy, not in a million years. How long have you been sleeping with her, Luke?" she demanded in a hoarse voice. He stared at her, totally nonplussed.

"What – I haven't! God, no, Lorelai, I wasn't talking to you!"

"What?" she spat.

"I was talking to _her! _I meant to tell _her – _about _you!" _

"You meant to? So how long have you been talking to her? Because as of one thirty this afternoon, you had no idea she was _back." _

"Look," he said loudly, cutting her off. "She came to the diner at – six, or something. And she wanted to talk, so we went upstairs, and we got to talking, and then just when you walked in she _kissed _me, and when I saw you and _she _saw you I said to _her _that I had meant to tell _her _about _you." _Lorelai was quiet for a moment and then leaned back against the wall, covering her face with her hands.

"God, I'm so jealous it's humiliating. Of course you would never do something like that…" he reached over, gently wiping away a tear that had escaped with his hand. She couldn't help but smile out of affection. God, she loved him so much it hurt sometimes.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I never asked her to kiss me. And I _did _push her away. You saw that."

"Yeah…"

"So, then…?" he asked tentatively. She nodded.

"It's okay. But, Luke, that girl…she's _clearly _not over you, and the thing is, you guys were together for longer than _we _were and _I _never got over you…what I mean is, she must really like you. Or, at least she thinks she does. And I'd say the typical, cut-her-out, except I know what it feels like, and…I couldn't do that to her, you know?" He sighed.  
"Yeah. But then…what?"

"Well…I guess as long as it's clear you don't want to be with her, you guys could probably be friends. I mean, we did it, right?"

"And failed miserably," he added, gesturing between them.

"But it wasn't nearly as…_intense _with her. Right?"

"Of course not." He sighed. "Look, you were with someone too, right?"

"For a _little _while…"

"Well, did you love him?" Did she love _Jack? _Nothing even close.

"God, no. I barely even liked him. I was just using him to try and – to try and get over you."

"Yeah, well, that's exactly how I felt about Sophia." She nodded.

"Okay."

"You know I love you, right?" he asked softly, his hand gently caressing her cheek, her neck. She smiled. It was rare that she heard those words escape his lips, maybe once a month, if that, and every time she _did _her him say he loved her, a big goofy grin attacked her face.

"I love you, too," she said, and let him kiss her. A _good _kiss, too, and he was holding her to him by the back of her neck, his hand in her hair, her hands on his cheek, on his chest, and then finally they just hugged tightly. He kissed the top of her head, and she smiled into his soft jacket. "So, you should probably go break it to Sophia," she finally said, and he chucked, letting her go.

"Yeah. I'll see you by the bonfire?" She nodded.

"See you."

So the moral of the story? Don't trust Halloween scares, because at the end of the day, it's still the people you know and love underneath.


	20. That I've Been Dreaming Of?

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **That I've Been Dreaming Of?

**Author's Note: **God, sorry the updates are taking so long! I'm overrun with schoolwork, and on top of that I'm rewriting this as a screenplay – starring _Will _and _Charlotte, _wink wink nudge nudge – and just a heads up (now don't laugh at me): If in ten or so years you happen to see a movie that's _a whole lot _like this fanfiction? That's mine. A stretch, I know, but screenwriting is my dream. Anyways…haha. Enjoy! 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I affiliated with them in any way. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

Lorelai opened her eyes slowly and laid for a moment in her bed, basking in the early-morning glory, and in the warmth of Luke's flannel shirt. She was so, so cozy. She kissed Luke's lower arm that was slung across her waist and rolled over on her stomach. She nuzzled her cheek against his usual morning stubble and kissed his cheek, then the corner of his mouth, and finally his mouth. His eyes opened, and she smiled up at him.

"Hi," she said as he shifted a little and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"God, I slept like a rock," he said hoarsely, and cleared his throat.

"Me, too."

"What time is it?" She looked over at the clock.

"Eight thirty."

"Oh." He kissed her this time, and then she broke away.

"Hey, Luke."

"Mmm?"

"Happy anniversary." His eyebrows lifted in registration.

"It's the twenty-eighth?"

"It is indeed."

"Oh, wow." He thought for a second and then stood up.

"Where're you going?" He pressed his hands together, thinking.

"Can Rory sleep over at Lane's tonight?"

"She can. What are you planning?" She flopped over on the bed playfully. "Come back to bed."

"Not planning anything. Yet. I'm gonna make some pancakes." He turned to go downstairs.

"Luuuuke. You just ruined a moment." He chuckled and came over to the bed. He leaned over and gave her a real kiss, a long one. "Tease," she proclaimed him when he pulled away.

"That's right." He straightened up.

"Fine," she said with a fake pout, sitting up. "I'll be down in a few minutes. Can you wake up Rory?"

"Sure." He headed downstairs, and she followed him after having dressed her clothes for work. When she emerged into the kitchen, Rory and Luke were already there. Rory was sitting at the table in her rumpled pajamas, and Luke was making pancakes. Lorelai sat down at the table.

"So, Rory," she said. "I have to work today, but a babysitter is going to come and stay with you okay? And then you're sleeping over at Lane's. I promise tomorrow will be just you and me."

"Okay," Rory said agreeably. "Are you and Daddy going on a _date?" _Lorelai and Luke turned to look at her, their eyebrows raised.

"Does she even know what a date is?" Luke demanded.

"A date," Rory told them, "Is when two _lovers _go somewhere together." Lorelai choked on her coffee and had to cough several times before she could breath normally.

"_What? _Rory, where did you learn that?"

"I looked it up," she said as if it were obvious. "I asked Lizzie Stein what it meant if my parents were always going out and _kissed, _and _she _said that was what married people do, but _I _said that you aren't married, so she said you must be going on dates. And I didn't know what it meant so I looked it up in the dictionary. And that's what it says. It also said it can result in intercourse. But I don't know what that means." Luke dropped the spatula, and Lorelai bit her cheek to keep from laughing.

"It's nothing you should worry about," she said as Luke set a plate of pancakes in front of each of them. She kissed his cheek in gratitude. "But yes, your Daddy and I go on dates.'

"I knew it," Rory said. Lorelai and Luke exchanged a look, and she grabbed his hand.

"Come sit," she urged, but he shook his head, grinning.

"I gotta go. Big day today. I'll see you later, okay? Bye, Rory."

"Bye, Daddy."

* * *

"Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking."

"Hey, it's me." She smiled.

"Hey, Luke."

"So I'm going to pick you up at seven. Is that okay?"

"Pick me up for _what?" _she asked playfully.

"Never you mind. Seven good?"

"Seven's good. I'll see you then, Mystery Man."

"Okay, then."

"Love you. Bye."

"You too."

* * *

Lorelai, of course, was nowhere near ready at seven when Luke rang the bell. She let him in, hopping on one foot to get her heel on.

"Give me ten minutes," she said, bending over to the mirror to draw on eyeliner. She slid in an earring and fastened a necklace before bending ninety degrees to sweep her hair in to a ponytail. She held a clip between her teeth while she fastened it and clipped a strand of hair that never stayed in place, and put on her lipstick. She grabbed her coat and turned to face Luke. "Let's go." He laughed and lead her to the car, and drove to one of their favorite restaurants in Litchfield. When they had been seated and ordered, he held up his glass.

"Can I toast?"

"Of course," she said, holding up her own.

"To nine years of friendship," he began. "Six years of pining. And seven months of love." She smiled. "I love you," he said honestly. "And I want to be with you. Forever. And no, I'm not proposing to you, so get that look off of your face. So…to us." They clinked glasses and she drank, smiling.

"I believe we've toasted that before," she said when she set her glass down.

"Hey, it's timeless." They exchanged a look, and then the food came, and they dug in. When the food was cleared away and their desserts were ordered, the chitchat died down as Luke grabbed her hand across the table.

"Hey, there," she said with a grin.

"So, uh…" he began, and she couldn't help but giggle a little. "I was thinking I should say something tonight. Like…important or something. Because of the date and all…it's the first year we've spent this day together. As a couple, I mean. But…I wasn't really sure what to say, other than…thank you so, so much for jumping me when you were fifteen?" She snorted in laughter.

"You're very welcome. Can I? Say something?"

"Sure."

"Okay. Um…just that I love you, really. And that I'm _so _happy things worked out between us. And I feel like things are going really good."

"_Really _good," he agreed.

"Well…then, good." He grinned.

"All right, then." They leaned over the table to kiss, and then the dessert came.

* * *

Lorelai stared out the window as they drove back to her house, a little overcome with memories. At a red light, Luke put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed slightly. He understood. She looked up at him.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"It's raining." And it was. Just warm enough that it wasn't snowing, but the rain was sleet like, and made the pattering noise on the car roof that had become Lorelai's comfort in the past years. Luke grinned softly as they pulled up to the house, and came around to help her out of the car. "So, I'm guessing what comes next is the big plan of the evening?"

"There's no big plan," he assured her. "Just...you'll see." She shrugged and walked with him to the house. Once inside they went upstairs, where Luke closed the bedroom door behind them and flicked off the light so the only light was moonlight. Lorelai's eyebrows lifted in realization as he kissed her, just as gently and tentatively as he had seven years ago, in the middle of the room, exactly as they had been. Except for the location and their age, everything was exactly the same – there was even the sound of rain outside, and their kisses had the same effect they had before: audible in the room, and comforting.

And so they replayed that night, to some extent, kissing and moving to the bed, against the wall, slowly moving down, all the while gentle and loving and almost scared, just as they had been. Since they had finally gotten together, they hadn't been like this, and it was just…beautiful.

But as they kissed, she was surprised to find herself crying. She wasn't sobbing or anything, but her eyes leaked a couple tears. Luke reached out, his hand cupping her cheek. He didn't say anything for a while, just stroked her hair and her face.

"Lorelai," he whispered, leaning over so his mouth was by her ear. "I know. I know, it hurt so, so much, and I know you hate to think about it. But look at us now. It's okay, you know? To cry? But don't worry…I mean, everything's okay now."

"Yeah, I know," she whispered into his shoulder. "I don't worry. It's just…tonight. And _that _night. It's just a lot."

"Yeah," he said softly, and kissed her temple. She turned her head so he kissed her lips, and they kissed like that for a little while. They were lying down, sort of on their sides, though Luke was bent over her a little, and while she was comfortable and felt entirely safe, there was something haunting her at the back of her mind. Memories of how, just seven years ago to the day, they had laid here just like this, but about to lose so much more than just virginity. But it was really that night – November 28th 1984 – that gave their relationship it's unique quality, it's intenseness and deepness. Because that night hadn't just been sex, it had been something so much more powerful and beautiful that Lorelai couldn't put it into words.

"Hey, hey," Luke said quickly, softly, sounding concerned, and she realized she was sort of shaking, her hands squeezing his shoulders tightly as she had the first time, right after they had…_began. _

"Sorry," she apologized, tilting her head up to kiss him, but instead he slid down to his side, his hand at the base of her neck.

"Lorelai," he started, and she turned her face so they were millimeters apart. "We don't have to do anything. We have forever…it's not like we have to be together like that tonight." She bit her lip and ducked her head to rest it on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly into his shirt, so softly that it was almost drowned out by the rain.

"No," he said, stroking her hair. "I'm sorry. _So _sorry, Lorelai. Look how torn up you still are…I hurt you so much."

"Maybe you did," she relented, "But I love you, and that's all forgiven – on both sides. It's just that it's all…_coming back. _Now."

"So we won't do anything," he reassured her, wrapping his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head. "We have forever," he said again into her hair, and she hugged him back and squeezed him a little. "I love you," he whispered, kissing her temple, and then her cheek.

"Yeah," she said in a tiny voice. "I love you, too." She fell asleep after a little while to the sound of the rain outside, and slept all night like that, Luke holding her tightly as if he was afraid she'd slip out in the middle of the night.

* * *

"Lorelai." She stirred, and found herself still wrapped in Luke's arms. She moved a little and blinked a couple of times.

"It's dark out."

"Yeah. It's…" he checked the clock. "Two." She shifted so she lay on her back and propped herself up on her elbows.

"What's wrong?" she asked sleepily. The room was almost entirely dark, except for the shafts of light coming from the moonlight outside, falling across her face in an almost artistic pattern. Luke sat up.

"Nothing. I just couldn't sleep." She rubbed her eyes with her hand, and looked down to see that she was still in her dress. Figuring she was up anyways, she stood and changed into her robe. She lay back down next to Luke, tracing patterns on his cheek with her finger.

"You okay?" She spoke softly, as he was. "It's so late."

"Sorry."

"No, it's okay," she assured him. "Stuff on your mind?" He nodded, looking down, and she frowned slightly, letting her index finger rest beneath his chin.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, and she bit her lip.

"Luke…"

"No, I know. I already said it. But I couldn't sleep, and I was just thinking…I was awful. I abandoned you when you needed me the most. Heck, when _I _think about it from your point of view I get teary eyed, and you know I don't cry easy. And that's just me _thinking _about it. You…you had to go through it, Lorelai…I'm so sorry." She sighed, looking down at the sheet as well.

"But it was so long ago, Luke."

"Doesn't make it okay."

"I don't know…I mean, yeah. It really, really hurt, if you want the truth. It _really _did. But then again…that's why what we have now is so surreal. So…almost scarily intense. You know? Because I love you so much." She looked back up at him.

"You must have hated me." She kissed him sweetly on the cheek.

"Luke. I never hated you. I mean, you hurt me, yeah, but I didn't hate you. I missed you. Stop kicking yourself when you're already down."

"Yeah. Sorry. I don't know. I'm just thinking about all this stuff…"

"I know." She smiled softly. "You hated me, though." He didn't deny it, and she felt a slight twinge in her heart.

"I…well. Yes. For a while. But I didn't exactly hate _you. _I hated what you had _done, _and the ramifications of it. And then after I stopped hating, I started missing you. So much."

"I know how _that _feels." They looked at each other for a moment. "God…you know, I never thought I'd meet the guy I would want to be with forever when I was _fourteen._ But I think that's why we're so amazing. Because…you're the only person I've ever really loved, so it just makes it that much better."

"Yeah, it's kind of scary if you think about it. Some people would probably be second guessing themselves like crazy. But with you…I just know." She nodded slowly.

"I know what you mean." She laid back down, and so did he, putting an arm around her and squeezing her shoulder lightly. "Luke?"

"Mmm."

"Do you think you can sleep now?"

"Yeah." They lay there for a little while.

"Luke?"

"Mmm."

"Can I go back to sleep? He leaned over and kissed her for a few seconds. Then he lay back down. "Good night," she said. "Love you."

"Love you too. Sweet dreams."


	21. So If You Have A Minute

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **So If You Have A Minute

**Author's Note: **A Java Junkie Christmas. A little something for all you fluff lovers out there. Now. I know some of you didn't want what happens at the end of this chapter to happen yet – or at all, given the age of our main characters – but I couldn't resist, and I follow Luke's logic on this one.

And another thing - I'm leaving for vacation for two weeks on Thursday, so updates will be really infrequent for the next two or so weeks, if not completely nonexistant. I promise when I get back updates will be more frequent. Enjoy! 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

"Get up." Lorelai nudged Rory with her foot, and the sleeping seven year old stirred.

"What?" she complained, sitting up in the dark. "Mom, it's the middle of the night."

"No," Lorelai corrected her, "It's the beginning of the morning. And it's _snowing. _Get up." Rory jumped up, her eyes wide with excitement.

"_Really?"_

"First snow. And its perfect timing, too – tomorrow, I mean, today – is Christmas eve. Come on, get on your coat and shoes." She stood to show that she was already dressed in her down coat and boots over her pajamas. Rory dressed eagerly and raced Lorelai to the door, but stopped up short.

"Wait, what about Daddy?"

"He's at his apartment. He has to work early tomorrow – Christmas and all."

"Okay. Let's go." They left the house into the freezing air, the soft white snow falling down around them. It was at least one in the morning, and absolutely frigid, but the first snow walk had been a tradition of theirs since Rory was an infant. They walked around the neighborhood in a serene silence, and then as they neared the town, Lorelai grabbed Rory's hand.

"C'mon. I have an idea for a _new _tradition." They ran to the diner, and Lorelai stood on her tiptoes to get the key he kept above the door. She let herself in, and she and Rory crept upstairs to the apartment.

"Wait! Mom! He's gonna be _mad." _Lorelai shrugged, grinning.

"He always forgives me." She turned the doorknob, and she and Rory snuck inside, and Lorelai grabbed four pots and pans. She handed two to Rory and put a finger to her lips as they went to stand at either side of his bed. "On the count of three, _bang," _she said, her voice barely a whisper. "One…two…_three!" _They clashed the pots and pans together, and when Luke bolted upright, his hair ruffled comically, Lorelai cheered, _"Happy snow! Happy snow! Happy snow!!!!" _He grabbed hers and Rory's wrists, lowering them. He directed his glare at both of them, who cowered overdramatically.

"_What _is wrong with you?" he demanded in a low, deadly voice. Lorelai bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

"Well," she said, "It's the first snow of the year. And we have this _whole _big tradition, how we get up _whatever _time it is and walk around. And so _I _decided to make a _new _tradition: wake Luke up and get him to make us food!" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"What the h - " he glanced at Rory. "What are you _on?" _

"Snow!" they both shouted. He winced.

"Luke," Lorelai said sweetly, holding the pots together sincerely. "Will you _pleaaase _make us pancakes and hot chocolate and burgers and come and sit with us and we can have a good ole Christmasy time? Or do you have to be a party pooper?" He glared at her but stood up. She reached up and smoothed down his hair, which was sticking up in tufts. "Good boy. Now. Pancakes, burgers, hot chocolate, for three." At his look, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Luke? I'm very, very sorry for waking you up. So sorry. I cannot express my sorrow - "

"That's enough out of you," he said, steering her out of the way, but not before kissing her lightly. She smiled. Mission accomplished.

Fifteen minutes later, Luke, Lorelai and Rory sat in the diner around a table, Lorelai and Rory eating pancakes and burgers, and Luke eating something unrecognizable, but that she suspected was _soy. _They forced him to drink hot chocolate, though, and they sat there laughing and eating and talking until three in the morning, when they went upstairs, and Luke set Rory up in his bed and he and Lorelai conked out on the couch.

* * *

Lorelai woke hours later to find herself on the pullout couch, Luke's arm slung over her in his customary style. It took her a second to remember the "wild" events of the previous night, and then she smiled. She turned over and nudged Luke awake. He mumbled something and ground his face into the pillow. She in turn tickled the back of his neck until he snapped it up, and then grimaced, rubbing the base of his skull. 

"Ow," he grumbled, and sat up. She opened her mouth and began to sing.

"We _wish _you a Merry Christmas, we _wish _you a Merry Christmas, we _wish _you - "

"Please, I beg of you stop," he begged playfully, and kissed her good morning.

"Mmm. Is Rory up?" He looked over at the bed.

"Nope."

"God. She sleeps like a teenager. _You've _adapted me. I sometimes wake up at seven in the morning. For _kicks."_ He grinned and stood up, and went about making breakfast, as she got up and tramped over in her flannel Christmas-cheer pajamas: red with miniature santas and reindeer dancing on them. Luke snorted when he saw her, and she stuck out her tongue.

"So, what are the rest of the plans for the day?" he asked, "Or do I want to hear?"

"Well, you're _going _to. We plan to be all domestic and cra - " she glanced back where Rory was stirring. "And _stuff _like that, and so we're gonna make cookies and drink hot chocolate and buy _stolen - " _she exaggerated the word – "And pretend we made it ourselves, and _then _we're gonna watch a whole lot of Christmas _movies." _She paused. "And then we will go to sleep - AKA, Rory will go to sleep and I'll sneak down and be incredibly stealthy while I _know _she's watching from her bedroom door." Luke chuckled.

"So where do I fit into all of this?"

"Well." She thought for a second. "You can do the whole thing! No, no, it'll be fun! Come walk home with us, and we can chill all day and eat _stolen! _Ooh, it'll be so much fun."

"I can't do all _day," _he said. "I have to be at the diner until two."

"So come after two." He shrugged and grinned.

"Sure." Rory came and sat down at the table. "Hey, Rory," he said as he set a waffle in front of her, "I'm gonna come over today around two. That okay?" Her eyes lit up and she grinned.

"Yeah! That'll be _fun!" _

"Okay, then." Lorelai looked down at her empty mug.

"Is there any coffee?"

"Uh…downstairs, if you want to bring some up, I'll make some." She shrugged and agreed, going downstairs amiably in her pajamas to the empty diner. She had to search for a while for the coffee which was buried in the storeroom, and when she got back upstairs she paused in the doorway. Luke was sitting across from Rory at the table, and she was leaning forward, talking eagerly.

"I was a Shepardess," she was saying.

"A Shepardess?"

"A Shepard, but they didn't have enough girl parts, so they made a Shepardess. It was fun. I got to wear funny shoes. But before the play Jesus got sick and Mary got stage fright, so I ended up being Mary and they had Lane be Jesus! Her mom was really proud." Luke chuckled.

"Well, I want to come next year," he said.

"To the Christmas play? Mom doesn't come. Only the _boring _kid's parents come. 'Cause the play's _really _boring."

"I know," he said. "I had to do it when I was in elementary school, too. I was always Judas. Not quite sure why." Lorelai laughed from the doorway, and then when they looked at her came in.

"You want to go to the Christmas play?" she asked, sitting down.

"Yeah," he said. "It's a thing. A school thing. I wanna go. Next year, though."

"Okay," she said with a shrug, and handed him the coffee. "I must admit, it _was _funny last year, because Kirk was Jesus."

"Well, he must have been very happy about that," Luke said with a straight face, and set about making the coffee. "D'you want this - "

"Two creamers, one sugar," she rattled off, and he placed it in front of her along with a carton of milk and a sugar shaker.

"You do it. I won't partake in you _killing _yourself." She grinned and made her coffee as she liked it. After a while she and Rory went home, where they changed into holiday appropriate red and green ensembles and set up camp in the kitchen, pretending to cook. Of course, this mainly consisted of eating raw cookie dough, putting the omnipresent _stollen _in the microwave, and stirring Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix into mugs of hot milk, but it tasted good all the same. Around noon they ate a healthy lunch of cake and cookies, and settled down to watch classic Christmas movies. For the first time in a long time, Lorelai's mind was completely happy, not a single haunting thought plaguing her. Everything was all right with Luke, Rory was doing great, and she herself was only twenty-three – she had a lifetime ahead of her, and that thought gave her happy chills. The idea that she had all of this at such a young age – she wondered what more was to come. One thing, however, was a big nagging. She and Luke were doing wonderfully, with the typical ups and downs that accompanied any relationship. She was so, _so _in love with him, so much that it almost hurt sometimes, and she knew without a doubt, as she was sure he did, and however cheesy it came off, that he was the _one. _But then it came back to her age. Twenty-three. And he was just twenty-six. Still too young – they were _always _too young to take the next step. At fifteen and eighteen, they had been too young to start something. And now they were too young to finish it.

Luke came at two, like clockwork, bearing pie, burgers, fries, grilled cheese, and a secret bag of which he wouldn't let them see the contents, but they _knew _it had presents. They ate and talked and laughed, and Lorelai put on a Christmas carol CD and sang karaoke to Luke and Rory's dismay and amusement, and despite many attempts, she couldn't get _Luke _to sing karaoke to Jingle Bell Rock with her.

Later, around five, they all hunkered down on the couch to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, sustained by mug after mug of hot chocolate and piles of plate with burger remains. Luke pulled a big flannel blanket over the three of them, and he sat next to Lorelai, with Rory on her other side. She leaned her head on his arm, incredibly comfortable and happy, and reveling in this unusual family Hallmark card moment.

"Christmas cards," she said suddenly. Luke and Rory turned to look at her.

"What?" he asked after a pause.

"We forgot to send out a Christmas card."

"We _never _send out a Christmas card," Rory pointed out.

"I wanted to," she said with a pout. "Because of our family-ness and all. We could have taken a cheesy picture…" she sighed dramatically. _"Well. _Next year, then."

"Sh," Rory ordered. "Movie." Lorelai made a face at her and turned her attention back to the screen, where Lucy was giving Charlie psychological advice. She looked up at Luke.

"I bet you were like Charlie Brown when you were eight," she said.

"_Shh," _Luke and Rory both told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"You big bores." So she sat quietly like she was told for the rest of the movie, and polished off a burger and two slices of pie in that time. Lane came over towards the end of the movie and invited Rory to have a snowball fight with her and a bunch of other kids from the elementary school, and Luke and Lorelai stretched out over the couch.

"What'd you get Rory?" he asked her as she moved so she was lying with her head in his lap.

"Well, books, of course. And a promise to take her on a shopping spree…and some trinkets." She shrugged. "Why? Don't worry. You got her good stuff last year."

"Yeah, I guess," he said, his hands playing absentmindedly with her hair. He looked down suddenly. "Why'd you cut it?"

"What, my hair?" She felt for it, which reached to about her shoulders. "I cut it a few weeks ago. It's just a couple inches shorter."

"Oh. Just felt weird."

"What'd you get her this year?" she asked as she settled back down.

"Books, yeah...a game – _not a stupid one, _don't worry – and…something else. I forget."

"Mmmhmm. Mmmhmm. And me?" she asked faux-casually.

"You'll find out soon enough," he quipped, and she giggled.

"Fine." She wriggled to sit back up, tucked under the safety of his arm, and wiggled her toes. "Mmm. I love Christmas."

"Yeah," he agreed. She paused, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Hey…um…Luke?"

"Hey…um…Lorelai?" She made a face at him.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Always."

"Did you ever…." She sighed. "Did you ever open the – what I gave you…Christmas '83?" His eyebrows raised a little, remembering the day – a month after that night, when she had reached out and he had shut her out completely. He exhaled.

"Yeah," he finally said. "I did." She nodded.

"Okay."

"Don't you want to know if I liked it?" She shook her head.

"No. I just wanted to know. If you opened it. That's all."

"Oh. Well, I did. And I did like it – now, that is. Then, I think I wanted to destroy it." She shrugged, and turned so she faced him.

"Eh. That's all behind us now." She kissed him. "Merry Christmas, Luke."

"And the same to you," he told her. She settled back with her head against his chest. Before she knew it, words were coming out of her mouth that she had meant to stay safely inside her head.

"Luke…"

"Mhmm."

"Should we get engaged or something?" He sat up quickly, causing her to fall a little against the couch.

"What?"

"Calm down, you big baby, I'm not saying _now. _Jeez."

"Oh. Um. Why? I mean, why do you ask?"

"Because we love each other," she said in a _duh _tone of voice, "And I don't think we're going to be breaking up any time soon – and like you said…I want to be with _you _forever, too." She smiled shyly. "Whatever. I mean, I'm just asking – I think we're too young now, that's why I brought it up…like, what we should _do."_

"Okay," he said, settling back down. "Well…I mean, yeah. If we stay together like we are for another year or two, we probably _will _end up getting married. But…you're twenty-three, you know?" She shrugged.

"My mom was twenty-three when she got married."

"Okay, but that was practically in the time of arranged marriages."

"Luke, calm down," she said with a laugh in her voice. "I'm not pushing for _anything. _I was just wondering, that's all. I wasn't proposing, I'm not _hurt _that it's too early – I _know _it's too early. Don't freak out on me."

"I'm not freaking out," he said, shaking his shoulders. She stifled a laugh.

"Okay, my bad." They reverted back to cuddling, and pretty soon Rory came back covered with snow, so they put her in warm clothes and ate dinner. Around nine they went to bed, but Luke and Lorelai snuck out around eleven to put presents around the tree and in the tattered stockings. They arranged them carefully and silently, and for once Rory _wasn't _peeking – Lorelai figured she was too worn out from the snowball fight. When she and Luke were stuffing the last trinkets down the stockings, they turned in opposite directions and ended up colliding, as they always did, face to face. She giggled softly.

"We have problems, my friend," she whispered. He chuckled and nodded, and then kissed her. She broke it after a few seconds though, but let him still hold her right to him. "Stop it," she whispered. "I'm sure Rory's peeking her little head out, and we don't want to scar her for life or anything. You know, this is the first year she _hasn't _been sitting by her doorway watching? Maybe she finally believes in Santa. Who knows. _I _never believed in Santa, my parents didn't even make a premise of it, they - "

"Lorelai," he cut her off, and she smiled.

"What?"

"Will you marry me?" She leaned back a little so she could see his face better.

"Are you – are you serious?" she asked after a few beats. He nodded.

"Yeah."

"But – but – you said that we were too young – _stop confusing me!" _she hissed, and he grinned.

"No, I know, I said that…yeah. But then you said your mom was twenty-three? And I figured, look at her and your dad, they're the epitome of a high society New England couple…I don't know, I just thought, why can't we be like that?"

"You want to be a high society New England couple?" she asked, amused.

"Scratch the high society part."

"Mmm. But – I mean, I want to, you know that, I just still don't know if we're old enough. We've only been together for eight months…"

"Since when has time had anything to do with how much we want to be together?

"That's true. You're right. I mean, you know what _my _answer would be, I just…Luke…are you sure?"

"Yeah. I love you, you know that, and you're right – if now, we'll just be waiting for a time when we're _not _too young, and how ridiculous is _that?" _He paused to let her smile. "But…anyways…will you? I mean, do you want to?"

"Luke," she said softly, letting the back of her hand slide across his cheek to rest on the base of his neck. "Of course. Of _course _I do. I just want to make sure that _you _do…I don't want you doing this out of obligation or _anything, _that's not how I want this to – " he shut her up with a kiss. "That works every time," she said when they had broken apart.

"So…is that a yes?" She squealed and then covered her mouth, remembering Rory.

"It's a yes. Yes! Oh, my god!" She kissed him again, and he leaned her back a little. After a few beautiful seconds, he leaned her pack upright and held up a finger.

"A ring."

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You need a ring."

"I don't have one."

"Neither do I." He thought for a second. "I'll get one tomorrow."

"Okay," she said, mimicking his secret-agent tone of voice. "Should we go to sleep?" she whispered after a moment.

"Yeah." She looked back at Rory's room, where the seven year old now stood, grinning. "G'night, Rory," she said as they went back upstairs. When she and Luke were tucked cozily into bed under her flannel sheets, she kissed him one last time. "Merry Christmas," she said again. "I love you."

"Love you, too. Now go to sleep." With that, he slid his arm around her, and they both drifted off into dreamland.


	22. Why Don't We Go?

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Why Don't We Go?

**Author's Note: **So don't go thinking this whole wedding thing is going to go off with a bang. If you want a hint, look up the lyrics to the song. A few chapters from this, don't be so sure…okay, that's all I'll say. Don't worry, I love my Javas, and they _will _end up happily ever after. Just a few bumps along the way.

This is the last chapter before I leave on Thursday, but I'll _try _to keep writing over break. Keep reviewing!

And no, I don't advocate getting drunk or anything, but I thought our two favorite lovers needed a night of fun. And, okay, so cheese with the whole dancing thing, but I couldn't resist. The image is just too cute. Enjoy! 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

January 14th, and Lorelai now had a ring on her finger. It was a white-gold band with a small multi-faceted diamond on it, and she loved it. Luke caught her admiring it all the time, holding her hand in front of her, turning it this way and that so the light caught it at different angles. They had yet to set a date, but they _had _informed Emily and Richard, a strange event. They had been invited to a New Year's party at their house, and while Lorelai would have much preferred to have her _own _party as opposed to stuffy old people talking business, Luke had forced her to go, taking him and Rory, because he said it was the perfect time to tell them that they were engaged.

Emily hadn't taken the news very well.

She had first yelled at Lorelai for being too young and marrying her puppy love, which had caused Lorelai to shout right back at her for being a hypocrite. Emily had accused her of making a scene, but after Luke intervened, Emily had taken a few deep breaths and said, with an utterly fake smile, that she was very happy for them.

But despite having informed all the family members, it still seemed a little unreal to Lorelai. Like, she had the ring on her finger, and she loved him, and she was happy, but she couldn't quite get her mind around the fact that she was going to _marry _him. It wasn't the usual I'm-never-going-to-sleep-with-anyone-else-again feeling, because she had never gotten to experience the "joys" of sleeping around. It was more of an overwhelmingly, wonderful, intense mix between joy and a little bit of nerves.

So January 14th found Lorelai in the woods, sitting beneath a sadly snowless tree. After the snow on Christmas, a warm front had come in, melting everything away and leaving them at 35° and blindingly sunny. She and Luke still went to the woods, but separately – now that they saw each other every day, they didn't need to have an arranged meeting spot. Sometimes when they were both dwelling on something they would end up there at the same time and talk it out, but really it was more like their individual private therapist. Lorelai unzipped her wool coat to bask in the sun, leaning her back against the solid, familiar trunk of the tree, and held out her left hand again, examining the ring. It really was beautiful. Luke had got it for her on Christmas day, and given it to her as a present. It had been adorable – and completely un-Luke, which he was aware of, and had commented on humorously. It was simple, understated, but absolutely gorgeous. The bright sun hit it and she squinted at the bright ray of light that was reflected back at her. She lowered her hand, unconsciously twisting the ring around her finger with her right thumb and index.

She couldn't quite place what she was feeling. It definitely wasn't cold feet, or that she didn't love him, or anything – she _did _want to marry him, she had been the one who had initiated the entire thing, after all. It was more shock, that in maybe a year she would be Mrs. Luke Danes. That they would finally be a normal family – father, mother, daughter. No more complicated explanations that no, they weren't married, yes, they were Rory's parents, yes, they were together…it would finally be simple. And to an outside viewer, it did seem perfect. After all, almost-twenty-four and twenty-six wasn't too young. But to Lorelai, she was still fifteen, give or take the minor differences. And then again, maybe that wasn't bad. Fifteen was when she had been forced to start being an adult – to deal with her pregnancy, with the deeper, more emotional problems that tagged along with it…and if people who really became adults after college felt, eight years later, that _they_ were the same, then in perspective, feeling fifteen was exactly what she should have been doing.

She looked up when she heard footsteps coming into the woods, and had to laugh when she saw Luke.

"Yeah, I thought I might find you here," he said, emerging into the clearing. She blinked. Was she really that easy to see through?

"Why?" she asked as he came over to sit down across from her.

"Because you're you," he said simply, and shrugged. "What can I say? I know you. I know that when things get intense, you tend to – what's the word? Freak out?"

"Hey!" she protested. "I'm not freaking out."

"Maybe not. But you are…_antsy." _He looked pointedly at her finger, where she realized she was still fiddling with the ring: taking it on and off, twirling it, twisting it. She sighed, sliding it back on.

"I really do love it, Luke," she said, squinting in the sun.

"I know that. I mean, I didn't think you'd be all - " he waved his hands around frantically, " – for not liking it."

"Am I _that _transparent?"

"Not to anyone who doesn't know you like I do."

"Mmm."

"Lorelai." She looked up at him. "Talk to me. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, and at his look, rolled her eyes. "Really, nothing's _wrong. _I'm just…processing."

"Processing," he repeated.

"Yeah. That in – what, a year? Probably a year…we'll be _married. _And while that's the most amazing thing in the world to think about, it's also a little scary. Because…" she groaned in frustration. "I don't even _know!" _

"Well," he said, "Maybe it's because you'll be settling down. Not in a 'I'm ready to settle down' sort of way, but your life has been pretty hectic. Got pregnant at fifteen, moved out of your parents, you loved me, you hated me, you loved me, you hated me - "

"I _loved _you," she finished.

"And now your life is sort of fitting into place. And that's never _happened _to you before, so it's freaking you out." She stared at him for a second. _"What?"_

"And….once again you _read my mind." _He grinned.

"And once again, you forget I know you." He then assumed a more serious tone. "Lorelai…if you're not sure of this, if you feel it's too early, or _anything, _just tell me. Because we can wait. We can wait a year, two – ten, if you need to." She shook her head slowly.

"No…it's not that I don't want to marry you. I do. More than anything. It's just…what you said. Adjusting." He nodded, reaching out to take her left hand in his. He ran his finger over the ring, and she smiled. "Sorry if I freaked," she said softly."

"Don't be," he said. "I know I come off as the one who has to deal with your crazed emotions, and like I'm just observing, but I think about this stuff too."

"I know you do."

"But then again, I guess I had a more normal young adulthood than you did. Less frantic and all that. So it's easier for me to imagine settling down than for you, because you're still stuck at fifteen." She blinked. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"Read my mind? Mhmm."

"I know you said you weren't anymore, once we got together, but you are. It's not bad. You started being an adult at fifteen, so it's normal," he said with a shrug, and she stared at him.

"You have _got _to stop doing that."

"Well, I'm sorry," he said dryly, and she giggled. "So you're sure about this?"

"Of course I am," she said earnestly. "Processing, is all."

"Processing is good," he said as he leaned in to kiss her. When they broke apart, she smiled, running her hand across his stubbly cheek as she did so many times a day.

"Well, I am sure on one thing," she said.

"Oh? What's that?" She grinned sheepishly.

"For our first dance as husband and wife? I picked the song."

"Oh, god."

"Don't 'Oh, god' me, it's a good song."

"We're not dancing to _anything _by the Bangles. I don't care what you say, they're a stupid chick band - "

"Oh, chill out. Do you want to know or not?"

"I do, I do."

"Hey! I do! You said I do! I _dooooo._" He glared at her. "Sorry. _Anyways. _Thank You. By Led Zeppelin." He considered.

"That's not a dancey song."

"It is too."

"It is not."

"Is too."

"Is _not." _

"Are we actually going to do this?" He laughed.

"Well, I guess it could be a dancey song," he relented.

"But," she said, "If you prefer, we could dance to something by Journey. I _know _how much you love them." He winced.

"Ugh. Cheese."

"Don't! Stop! Be_lieeeev_in'!" she belted out, and he pushed her playfully.

"Led Zeppelin it is." He looked at her carefully. "So judging from your suddenly elated mood, can I assume you're feeling a little better about this?" She nodded.

"A lot better. I love you, Luke. That's really all there is to it." He grinned softly. "And – really. I can't wait. Honest."

"I believe you. I know you want this, I don't doubt you. But I do know that you're prone to bolting when things get too intense for your taste." She raised an eyebrow.

"You're wrong there, Luke. My whole _life _has been intense, and I'm still here, aren't I?" He shrugged.

"That's true." She sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I do want to marry you, Luke," she whispered.

"I know." He kissed her cheek, and then her lips. They kissed for a while, shifting so they could kiss more comfortably. After a few minutes they returned to just sitting, and he put an arm around her in that comforting fashion of his.

"You know," she said, "We have a pretty amazing love story. I mean, they could totally write a book about us. You know? Fell in love when we were sixteen – fourteen, eighteen, whatever – six _looong _years apart, then we got _together _and we have a _kid – _this is the stuff great novels are made of, you know." He chuckled.

"Okay, then." She made a face at him.

"Whatever. You'll be singing a different tune when Rory hits twelve and wants to hear how we met."

"Mmm."

"What time is it?" He checked his watch.

"Two thirty."

"Shit. I have to go get Rory from school." They stood, and walked down the narrow path to the main road. "You going back to Stars Hollow?" she asked, and he nodded. "Mmkay." They set off down the road towards the bus stop about a mile down, their arms around each other, the epitome of a perfect couple.

* * *

Lorelai sat tensely on her couch, the phone in her hand, the number all dialed and ready to go. With a deep breath, she pressed send before she could talk herself out of it, and listened while the phone rang.

"Hello?" her mother's sharp voice answered, and she winced. "He_llo?"_

"Mom – hi, it's me."

"Oh, hello, Lorelai." There was a pause. "Is everything all right?"

"What? Yeah. Yeah, everything's fine…I wanted to ask you something."

"All right."

"Well, you know Luke and I are getting married…"

"Yes."

"And I was just wondering…I know my trust fund isn't supposed to kick in until I'm twenty-five. And I know because when you set it up, I was twelve and you didn't think I'd be an adult at sixteen, but given that that _is _what happened, doesn't it seem sort of…_random _that it opens at twenty-five?"

"I suppose," Emily said tersely.

"So anyways…could it possibly kick in, say, now?"

"Why?" Emily asked sharply. "Why now?"

"Well – because I'm getting married. I have to pay for a wedding…"

"No," Emily said quickly – indignantly?

"What do you mean, _no?_ Do you think I'm not actually going to get married?" she demanded, suddenly defensive.

"Not at all, Lorelai. Your father and I will pay for the wedding." She blinked.

"Wh – why would you do that?"

"Because it's tradition," Emily said as if it were obvious, "And you are not going to blow your entire trust fund away on a wedding."

"But - "

"Don't _protest, _Lorelai. Say thank you. It's polite."

"I – thank you," she said, slightly bewildered. "Yeah. Thank you, Mom…"

"Well, you're very welcome. Now, I've already scheduled meetings with several caterers who I think you will find quite suitable, and I've booked a party planner. Unfortunately, the Atrium at the Winter Palace isn't available any time over the summer, but I _was _able to put in a deposit for October, if that's all right – October 21st. Is that a good day?"

"A good – _what?" _

"A good day. For your wedding. Is October 21st all right?"

"What are you _talking _about, mother? We haven't set a date yet ! October 21st is _way _too early! We've been thinking next summer – and the _Atrium? _That's where I had my first cotillion. It's horrid."

"You're being very ungrateful, Lorelai," Emily said sternly.

"I'm sorry! But…I think Luke and I would first like to get _used _to the idea of being engaged before we plunge into wedding plans. It's – it's too soon, mother." She heard Emily sigh.

"Very well. When you _deign _to meet with this _very hard to come by _party planner, let me know."

"Oh, Mom - "

"Goodbye, Lorelai. I'll see you on Sunday to meet with the caterer."

"Wh – b - " but Emily had already hung up. Luke came in from the kitchen.

"I assume it went well?" he asked dryly.

"She wants us to get married on October 21st," she said in a shocked voice.

"Why?"

"Because it's convenient."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, coming to sit next to her.

"Well, you see, the _Atrium _is open on October 21st."

"What the hell is the Atrium?"

"The fancy room at the Winter Palace."

"I'll ask again – the Winter Palace?"

"Fancy hotel."

"We're not getting married October 21st. That's ridiculous."

"That's what I said. She's mad at me. And besides, the Atrium is awful. This is why I didn't want her to pay for the wedding. It's going to be stuffy and cramped and just _terrible - "_

"Hey, hey. Calm down," he said, taking her hand. "Your mom can't decide anything without you agreeing. It is _your _wedding."

"Well, and yours."

"But do I really care about centerpieces and salmon puffs?" She smiled.

"I thought it was your passion."

"Mmm. It is. I've been hiding it all these years…" she snorted in laughter. His eyes lit up as they always did when he had a plan, and he rubbed his hands together.

"Oh, god. What?"

"I'm taking you out. Come on." He pulled her up, and she looked at him, puzzled, laughing a little.

"Why?"

"Who says there has to be a _why?" _She rolled her eyes.

"Luke."

"Well, you're stressed. So, come on. It's still early – what is it, eight thirty? And Rory's sleeping over at Lane's."

"Yeah. _Why _is beyond me. Must be no fun with Mrs. Kim hanging over them the whole time."

"Okay, so come on, get your purse." She shrugged happily and obliged, letting him drag her out to his car.

* * *

Half an hour later they sat at a table at a bar in Woodbury, laughing and drinking, something she hadn't done since she was fifteen and with Christopher. She and Luke had been to bars and such before during their dating frenzy over the summer, but she hadn't really drank for years. She hadn't ever been one for getting drunk, but sitting there with Luke, telling stories from their teen years and simply having fun, she couldn't imagine a place she'd rather be. When their third drinks arrived – beer for Luke, a martini for Lorelai – she held up her glass.

"To salmon puffs and centerpieces!" she half shouted, and they collapsed in laughter again, downing half their glasses in a single sip. "God, I needed this," she exclaimed, setting her glass down and letting the room settle around her. "I haven't had fun like this in _ages." _At his reproachful look, she corrected, "I _mean, _I haven't had fun like this _under the influence _in ages."

"What happened to your whole 'I don't drink' phase?" he asked as they sipped their drinks. She laughed.

"Don't you remember? I _abandoned my principle. _Besides, Chris beat _that _outta me." Instead of freezing up as he usually did, instead he laughed. After a few seconds she laughed too. Then she stopped. "I don't get it." He shrugged.

"Neither do I!" That set Lorelai off again, and once she had finished her martini, she pulled out a quarter and walked clumsily to the jukebox. "Where are you going?" he called after her. She waved him off, taking much too long to figure out how to get the quarter into the slot. She scrolled through songs before selecting something by Coldplay. It began to play over the sound system, as other people looked around, shrugged, and went back to what they were doing. She held out her hand for Luke. "What?"

"Come dance!" she urged.

"I don't think there's dancing here."

"_So?" _She grabbed his hand and pulled him up to her. He glanced around uneasily and then slid his hand into her as they began to dance.

"We should dance to this at our wedding," he said into her ear as they stepped somewhat clumsily from foot to foot.

"It's about a _scientist." _She felt him shrug, and leaned her head happily against his chest. As the lyrics continued, she added, "And besides, its about people breaking up. Très inappropriate. It is pretty, though." They finally found a rhythm, swaying comfortably, oblivious to the looks they were getting – a mix between _what's their problem? _and, _Aww, look how sweet. _"May," she murmured into his chest.

"What?" he asked, his words aimed towards her softly curling hair.

"Let's get married in May."

"Okay," he said softly, adjusting his arm around her and squeezing the hand that he held. "I love you," he whispered, so quietly that no one but her could hear it, and she smiled softly, her eyes closed.

"Mhmmm." She opened her eyes to look back up at him. "Let's just dance." And so they did.


	23. Talk About It

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Talk About It

**Author's Note: **Okay, so I'm back from vacation, and you'll (hopefully) be getting regular updates now! Just a couple more chapters...sad. I don't want this story to end, either! I'm having so much fun. Who knows, maybe I"ll write a sequel.

A clarification that I didn't make in the last chapter: when Lorelai says May, she doesn't mean the coming May (the last chapter and this are in January), she means the _next _May. As I said to a reviewer, if in the show when they set the date in January-ish they thought that June was soon, and they're already thinking maybe they're too young, etc., I figure fifteen, sixteen months is enough.

FYI, this chapter picks up the next morning from the last one. And not to worry, they still remember the whole May thing. They were _drunk_, but they weren't wasted.

And just because I _know _you'll ask this, no, she is not pregnant, this is just my way of showing them hung over, because it's funny.

Shit. I just realized since I made Luke Rory's father, she can't ever be with Jess. GAH. Ah well, so for the sake of the story they're cousins. Enjoy! 

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

Lorelai groaned loudly at the buzz of Luke's alarm clock and rolled over in his bed, clutching her head with her hands. They had ended up going back to his place instead of hers the night before, trying to drink off the alcohol with coffee, and instead had ended up making their way clumsily upstairs in a frenzied dance of kissing and trying to get out of their clothes. And now she was in his bed, the sheet draped loosely around her naked body, and her head pounding like a mother.

"Sorry," Luke groaned, slamming his hand down on the alarm. "I forgot to turn it off." She winced as she tried to sit up, and decided that the pain wasn't worth it.

"God, I feel like shit," she moaned, closing her eyes to shield herself from the 'blinding' light coming in through the curtains. _"Why _does my head hurt so much?"

"You're hung over," he told her groggily.

"Hung over," she repeated thickly. "God. I haven't been hung over since - " she paused, and then corrected herself. "I have never been hung over."

"Never?"

"Yeah…maybe a little…I never really ever had more than one or two drinks."

"Mark the date – January 15th, 1992, Lorelai Gilmore has her first hangover." She chucked.

"How much did we _have _last night?"

"Five?" he guessed.

"Yowza." As the pain caused by the alarm clock subsided, she rubbed her temples. "Just the idea of _five drinks _made my head hurt a little more, I think."

"Well," he said as he struggled to sit up, _"You _had five. You were drinking martinis – or was it downing them? I was drinking beer."

"Do I _want _to know how many you had?"

"Probably not." She sighed heavily and rolled over to bury her head in the pillow. She mumbled something incorrigible. "What?" She turned her face the slightest fraction of an inch.

"I _said, _at least I wasn't so trashed that I don't remember what we did."

"You weren't trashed, exactly," he reasoned as if making a great argument in a debate. "Just…drunk."

"Humph. Why? Have _you _ever been 'trashed?'" He cleared his throat uncomfortably. She struggled up on one elbow. "Do I even want to know?"

"Uh…" he sighed. "Okay, so…a couple times after, you know, our whole…thing. And then a couple more after my dad died."

"Oh." She squeezed her eyes shut against the actually bright light that came in as the wind shifted the curtain through the open window. "Whatever," she said with a sigh, and flopped back down on the bed. "I want coffee and aspirin," she announced. "I mean, that's what they do in the movies, right? When they've hung over. Coffee and aspirin."

"Yeah, that's all good, but I'm not moving," he told her.

"Mmmph." She smiled as she rolled to rest her head on his bare shoulder. "Last night was fun, though," she murmured. "With the dancing and the laughing and everything. God, the laughing." He chuckled. "And the sex," she added with a happy shrug. "That was good."

"Mhmm."

"And…May?" He looked over at her.

"May."

"May. Right? Or did I dream that? We said we'd get married next May…"

"Right," he remembered. "May. Next May?"

"Next May."

"That's more than a year."

"I know."

"You want to wait that long?" She considered.

"I don't know. I had some sort of logic last night. Oh! I remember." Her loud voice caused them both to wince, and she began again, quietly. "I remember. Because we don't want to do this year, it's too soon, but I want to be able to be _outside _for the wedding, but it shouldn't be high summer because then we'll sweat."

"Ah, yes. I _do _remember. So…May. May is good," he decided.

"May _is _good," she agreed, and then decided it was high time to get up. She pushed herself up and stood, holding the sheet around her like a loose toga as she searched the room, finding her jeans in one corner and her bra in another. She had to laugh. "I'm really curious as to how we did that," she said out loud. He grinned and stood, changing into sweatpants and staggering over to the kitchen where he started making some coffee as she changed back into her clothes from the previous day. "What time is, even?" she asked.

"Eleven," he said, checking the clock.

"_Eleven?" _she exclaimed. "Jesus. I haven't slept until _eleven _for ages."

"Well. You haven't been drunk for ages," he reasoned as he handed her a massive cup of coffee.

"Mmm. Thanks," she said as she took a sip. "Now, aspirin." He looked around and then held up a finger. He darted into the bathroom and reemerged a few moments later with a bottle of aspirin. "You are a god," she told him as she popped two.

"Do you have to pick up Rory?" he asked her as they sat down on the couch. She shook her head.

"No. Well, not yet, anyways. At three, I think." He nodded, and they sat quietly for a moment. Then, "May fourteenth," she announced. He blinked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We should get married May fourteenth."

"Um. Why the fourteenth, exactly?"

"Be_cause," _she said insistently, "That was the day we first _fornicated." _She shook her head at him sadly. "God, Luke. Keep _up." _He grinned.

"I see. And – _fornicated?"_

"Is there a problem?" she quipped, and he shook his head affably, taking a sip of his own coffee. Her jaw dropped. "Oh, what now?"

"_You're _drinking _coffee?" _she asked incredulously. "You _never _drink coffee!" He held up a finger in correction.

"True. I never drink coffee. _Unless _I'm hung over."

"Ahh." She finished her mug and held it out for more. "So now do you understand how _amazing _your coffee _is?"_

"Oh, I know," he said proudly. "But it'll kill you, so…" She rolled her eyes and shrugged, and looked down at the empty mug. He shook his head. "That's quite enough for now."

"Lu-_uke!" _

"Lo-_or­-_elai!" he mimicked her, and she stuck out her tongue in acceptance. "Oh, crap," Luke announced. She turned.

"Hmm?"

"Cesar's not even here today…I have to open the diner. Man. There are probably some _pissed off _people down _there…" _with a lurch he stood up, steadying himself against Lorelai, who had also stood. She laughed and let him kiss her. They headed downstairs, each jostle of the stairs causing infinite amounts of pain. When they reached the diner, which, sure enough, had a line of people lined up outside of it, he kissed her quickly. But sweetly. "I'll see you later, okay? Try to sleep or something. You're a mess."

"Always the charmer," she said sarcastically, and kissed him back. "Mmkay. Bye."

* * *

After Lorelai's infamous first hangover, the months passed quickly as things became more and more set in stone – her doubts faded away into excitement, and she and her mother actually got along when it came to planning the wedding. Although Emily wanted fancy and Lorelai wanted simple, or Emily wanted jazz and Lorelai wanted a DJ, they eventually solidified the plans, setting the date for May fourteenth indeed. They eventually decided on an afternoon ceremony in the town church, followed by reception in the town square, complete with a cheesy center table in the gazebo.

This was not to say that these months passed without problems – Luke and Lorelai had their occasional spats, usually not about anything worth fighting over. Everything from little stupid details like centerpieces could become a reason to fight when Lorelai was stressed about the wedding, but the fights always ended in a sweet kiss. Mid-July, they fought. Such a fight that Luke slept at his old apartment for the night, but ended up coming back at three in the morning – such a _stupid _fight that she could never remember what they had even fought _about. _Something ridiculous pertaining to the wedding, and it was because of that that she let it go a little: stopped freaking out about silverware and veils and priests or rabbis or anything else, and let her mother take care of that. She also took to spending more time with Sookie, because, as every girl knows, all she really _needed _before the wedding was a girl to squeal with and decided upon invitations with and all that.

Lorelai turned twenty four, and before she knew it she was coming around on twenty-five, as Luke graduated to twenty-six. Rory moved up to third grade and had her first 'boyfriend' – a boy named Sammy who she sat with in class. She also discovered Harvard, through one of Emily and Richard's friends, and what would later become the infamous "Harvard wall" began to grow.

And then it was October. They had been together for over a year, though it felt like forever. They'd _known _each other for ten years, almost to the date, and so, even though they occasionally went on their own when things got a bit too much to deal with, they decided to go to the woods on the exact day that they had met. Luke had instantly shot down her joking idea of a reenactment – she could sit in the tree and he could scare the shit out of her – and so instead they went during the day while Rory was in school, _together. _They were holding hands in the sweet, innocent way so many sixth graders do: their hands loosely linked, their fingers brushing together. She had dressed comfortably today in jeans and a jacket, while he was in his usual flannel. She knew that this turned a lot of people off, but to her it was a comfort. Always soft, and _steady – _reliable. She had noticed over the past couple years that he had three outfits: the flannel, a sweater and dress pants, and a suit that he always looked stuffed into, like a little kid at a wedding or something.

Their footsteps crunched almost quaintly on the gravel that had spread from the road onto the path leading to the woods. As teenagers the path had been small, maybe, but now it was _tiny, _so small that Lorelai wondered how she had ever seen it. It was maybe a foot and a half wide, so thin that Luke walked ahead: they couldn't walk side by side. Lorelai had been here a month or so ago; she didn't know when Luke had, but every time it looked a little bit different. She had forgotten how beautiful it was in the fall. After all, it had been in the fall that she had first stumbled upon this place, and had been taken in by the red and gold beauty of it. Luke swung himself effortlessly onto the first limb of the tree, using only his arms, while Lorelai planted her foot against the trunk and pulled herself up to sit beside him. She leaned her chin on his shoulder.

"He_llo," _she announced, and he grinned.

"Hello yourself."

"Seven months, Luke. _Seven months!" _This time he laughed.

"Yes, I _know. _You say it every day." She shrugged with a grin.

"I don't see why _you're _not more excited."

"I _am. _I'm just not quite as vocal about it." She made a face at him and smiled.

"Well. You should be."

"You're very argumentative today," he commented. She shook her head.

"No…not argumentative. Just relaxed, I guess. _Seven months, _Luke!" He rolled his eyes.

"_Seven months!" _he mimicked, and then shook his head. "It seems a _long _time away." She raised her eyebrows.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, we've been together for, what, a year and a half?"

"Something like that."

"So that's like a third of our relationship."

"Yeah," she agreed. "But look how fast the last few months have gone by." She considered. "But…then again, when you look forward to something it goes by _so slowly." _

"Mmmph," he agreed with a noncommittal shrug, and he looked down at the ground about seven feet below them. "Seems so small."

"What does? Here?"

"Yeah. It seemed so _spacious _when I first found it, y'know? Now it's…_small."_

"I don't think so," she said decisively. "When _did _you find it, anyways?"

"When I was…fourteen, I guess. Maybe fifteen. About the same as you."

"Must be something in the water." He chuckled softly.

"All right, can I imitate you now? _Ten years!" _he said in a falsetto voice, and she laughed.

"I _know!" _She swung her legs back and forth as a small frown appeared on her face. "Although…" Sure, it had been ten years ago that they had met, so add on a year as teenagers and another two as adults, that was three years that they had _known _each other. The seven or so in between were foggy. She knew he had been with Sophia for a little while. She had been with Jack for about the same amount of time, but the majority of her life had been supporting Rory, while him…she didn't know _what _he had been doing. He'd opened the diner when he was nineteen, she knew that much. He had spent a year and a half helping Liz take care of her son, he'd taken a few business classes, he'd even spent an entire winter season getting his instructor's pin at a ski resort in Vermont, and another winter teaching, which in her mind was a hilarious image.

The feeling of his hand on hers brought her back to reality, and she blinked.

"Although what?" he asked.

"Although," she continued, "It's really only about three." He nodded once, slowly, and his legs stopped swinging. "Luke? Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I know I've never asked this before…I mean, we've sort of left the whole time apart thing rest, but…I mean, _seven years, _Luke. Almost. That's like almost a quarter of our _lives, _and I don't know what _happened. _Sure, I know the basics," she said when he made a move to interrupt, "But – look. You know what _I _was doing. I was with my parents until I was eighteen, then the Independence Inn, then here. All revolving around Rory. But you didn't _have _Rory, not then, so what…?" He sighed.

"For you it was Rory. For me, it was the diner, I guess. And Liz," he added. "She was…man, she was crazy, you know? She's a year older than you, and she got pregnant maybe ten months after you did? It took so much work to make sure she didn't run off or do drugs while she was pregnant, _any _of that, she was just…crazy," he said again. "And once she _had _Jess, it took twice as much work to make sure she didn't just up and leave him with me." He shrugged. "And then…well, then Rory turned up in the diner, and that sort of started this phase."

"Or at least the phase preceding it," she offered, and then smiled. "Well, that's not nearly as bad as I was expecting."

"Oh really?" The spark returned to his eyes. "What exactly were you expecting?"

"Oh…drugs, alcoholism, partying, all while I was doing the mom thing," she rattled off, and then grinned. "Just kidding."

"I'd hope so." He frowned a little. "You know, I was never…I mean, when I said back in January that I'd – well, that I wasn't exactly new to hangovers…I didn't meant that I was into drinking."

"I know," she said quickly. "That's why I said – just kidding – Luke, come on, I _know _that."

"Yeah," he said. "But ever since I made that faux pas, for lack of a better phrase, you've been sorta weird about it." Her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes widening in their typical look of innocence.

"How so?"

"Just…like, you hardly even have a glass of wine around me, and you make these jokes about it that are such attempts at casualness that they're just wince-worthy." She smiled.

"Wince-worthy?"

"Oh, you _know _what I mean." She sighed, resting her hand on his.

"Luke. Okay, so maybe that weirded me out a little, but see, now I know, I _know _that you weren't saying that you were a total drunk, or whatever. It's okay. Sorry." She wasn't sure if she should be apologizing or forgiving, so she did both. He shook his head.

"It's okay. I'm sorry, too, for – oh, I'm confused." She giggled softly. "So…new topic?"

"Yeah. Oh! I have one. Okay. So. I was thinking…" she drew the words out cautiously. "That maybe – _maybe – _we could write our vows." She held up a hand to stop his protests. "I know! It's cheesy, soap-opera, totally _wince-worthy." _He grinned at that one. "I think so too. You _know _how much I hate that stuff. _But. _We just have such a good _story! _Don't you want people to hear it?" He looked at her warily.

"How exactly would you paint this picture? Because if you go on and on about how I _abandoned _you and all that - "

"No, no, no," she hushed him. "Okay, I wrote it already," she said sheepishly.

"Oh, come _on."_

"I don't have it, though, so here's how I _think _it goes. The abbreviated version, of course. We met when we were teenagers, and even though we didn't _realize _it, we were totally and hopelessly, head over heels in love with each other. Then we – how shall we put this so it's appropriate for a wedding? We…went on a mystical journey! Yes. We went on a mystical journey and…hmm. I went on a not-so-mystical journey with your…_arch enemy_, and when I became _with child, _you were angry that I went on this other journey and so we didn't _speak _for six, seven years, and then – okay, here's where the mystical journey crap is cut – Rory accidentally broke the news to you, and it took time but we eventually became friends again, and then you threw me a killer party and at the same time became totally _weird, _and then we kissed, and later went on another _mystical journey! _Oh, that is fun to say. And then you proposed to me on Christmas eve, and here we are!" He stared at her dumbly for a solid minute.

"Okay, we'd find another word for mystical journey and arch enemy, and make _me _sound a hell of a lot better. If we were _hypothetically _to do this, that is."

"Hypothetically," she repeated. "So, any other _hypothetical _questions?

"Do we mention this place?"

"No!" she said quickly, surely, and he blinked. "Sorry. But…I _hate _the idea that anyone else know about it!"

"Ever? Not even Rory, later?"

"Well…I don't know. I guess we'll see. But this is _ours. _I mean, I don't even know if anyone else has even ever _been _here! No, _hell _no, we don't mention it!"

"Okay, okay," he said just as quickly. "I wasn't saying I _wanted _to, I was wondering."

"Well, I don't want to," she said obstinately. "So…can we do it?" He sighed.

"Look. It _is _a good story – a _great _one to tell kids, grandkids – that sort of thing. But…listening to the story, no one would get it. They'd just think we lost touch, that sort of thing…there's no way to convey what _really _happened. Do you really want to sort of _advertise _us like that? Make it public knowledge?" She sighed, defeated.

"No, I guess not." She pouted for a second, and then brightened. "Hey, I could tell Rory the story _now, _and actually _use _the words mystical journey!"

"Oh, dear god." They were quiet for a moment, and then she asked,

"Have _you _ever told anyone else?"

"About this place?"

"Yeah. Have you?"

"No," he said. "I guess not. My dad, maybe, but not _really – _he knew I went _somewhere, _he just didn't know _where." _

"It's ours," she said again. "You know? Only we know it exists…only us."

"Okay," he said, squeezing her hand. "Okay." They were quiet a moment, and then –

"_Seven months!"_


	24. This Could Be The End Of Everything

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **This Could Be The End Of Everything

**Author's Note: **You'll kill me. You're all _actually _going to kill me for the character I have…shall we say, _guest starring _in this chapter. I know you all thought he was done with. Well, he's not, sorry. It'll all turn out okay. I _promise._

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

By the beginning of December, the wedding buzz died down a little. Not in such a way that she was sick of it or anything, but the whole _seven months _kick wore off. Now it was just a given – yes, they would get married. They practically already were. Luke had almost officially moved in: he still had his old apartment, but his clothes and nearly everything else was at the crap shack. Rory had finally caught on to the fact that her parents weren't _already _married, but they would be soon, and she was more than happy to be a bridesmaid. Lorelai had wanted her to be a sweet little flower girl, but Rory had refused to be anything that required wearing a poofy dress or scattering rose petals. She had announced that she would be _nine _soon, and nine year olds _weren't _flower girls. So, she would be a miniature bridesmaid, along with Sookie.

It was December 5th that she got the phone call. Actually, it was December 23rd that she got the phone _message. _The call came in the middle of the night, and she hadn't gotten up to get it. Luke would have, but he had to work early the next day, and he was sleeping at his old apartment. So when she got up and was drinking her badly homemade coffee, she sat down on the couch and listened to it. By the first two _words, _she knew who it was. Of course she did. _Lor. _She was only Lor to him. No one else. He had coined that nickname.

"Hey, Lor, it's me – it's Chris. Don't know if you…what am I talking about, you remember, never mind. So, listen, I just moved back to the East coast – I was at college in the West – and I was wondering if you wanted to have…lunch, dinner, whatever – _something. _I know you're with Lenny, I don't want anything, just to catch up. I've – I've grown up, you know? I'm…okay, you probably still think of me as the horny sixteen year old, but…I'd just really like to see you. So call me back, if you want. My number's 659-2845, so just call back, whenever. Okay. Bye."

She sat perfectly still for a good ten minutes, as if afraid that he would jump out of the answering machine and jump her bones. What did he _want? _That did not sound like Chris at all. Unsure, nervous. But, of course. They hadn't exactly parted on best terms – the last she had seen of him, he had been making out with Aimi Stockman, of all people, at the tenth grade graduation party, which she had gone to just to make a statement. _Pregnant girls matter, _had been her silly inner mantra that night.

Lorelai didn't call him back for two days, nor did she tell Luke – or _Lenny, _as Chris had named him. She figured if she decided not to see Chris, there was no need to tell Luke. Right? He would only get mad, or freaked, and that wouldn't help with the current frenzied state amidst wedding plans that they were currently in. A couple times she almost mentioned it – "Hey, speaking of sex," one night around two after one of their typical late night trysts, or, "Rory was hiding. Hey. Hiding. Kinda sounds like…" but this last one she had finished lamely with, "Hoarding," unable to complete the needed "Hayden."

When she _did _call him back, it was at work, in the closet, the door bolted and everything. She _would _tell Luke, she _had _to now that she was calling Chris back. She wasn't sure what she was going go to say to him – Chris, that is. She wanted to bawl him out, just get out every angry thought she had ever had about him, but at the same time she was interested to see if he was sincere, or if he just wanted a piece of ass.

She dialed the number written on her hand, of all places, like a twelve year old at the beach, and bit down on her bottom lip while it rang.

"Hello?" She caught her breath. "Hello?"

"Chris, hi," she finally said.

"Lor!" She winced. "You called back! Hey!"

"Yeah, I did." She sighed, the similar confliction that she had felt, late November at fifteen, between wanting to scream at him and – do what? But this time, the anger won. "So, what do you want, Chris? Your college girlfriend dump you? Little desperate, figure, _hey, why don't I call up old _Lor? _She didn't mind in tenth grade. _Not gonna work this time, Christopher, okay? _You don't know me anymore. _You just _don't. _And I'm with Luke, and I am _ridiculously _in love with him, so this just isn't worth your time, okay?"

"Whoa, hey, hey! Nothing like that, I said that already! You're right, I _don't _know you anymore. You don't know me anymore, either. I'm not that guy, Lor. Just…can we catch up?" Something about the way he asked made her stop and consider.

"Catch up," she repeated.

"Yeah. Just…I don't know who you are now, but you and I have a history. Seems like we should know each other. You're getting married?"

"How - "

"Your mom told me. I got your number from her."

"Perfect," she said dryly. "So, just…_lunch?"_

"Lunch. Sure. How's…the tenth?"

"The tenth is fine. Fine, yeah."

"You wanna meet at Dante's?" She had to smile at that one. Dante's, in Hartford, had been their most frequent date spot as teenagers.

"Sure," she agreed. "I'll see you on the tenth at Dante's, then, at noon."

"Sounds good. See ya, Lor."

"Bye." She hung up the phone and stared at the shoes in front of her at the closet. "Shit," she said out loud. She had to tell Luke. And she knew _exactly _how that conversation would go. He wouldn't want to _forbid _her, but he'd make it clear he wasn't happy about it. She'd go anyways, and it would just be one more weird thing between them.

She didn't tell him. She didn't even believe she was _going, _until she sat in the diner – Dante's – at noon on December 10th, her hands gripping the chair she sat on tightly. She felt _guilty _for putting thought into how she looked – dark jeans, a soft sweater, her hair falling in soft waves around her face. She couldn't even _imagining _explaining that to Luke, but she didn't want Chris to see her and think she'd turned out a wreck. She _had _to look good. This was how these things worked. She thought. She wasn't exactly an expert when it came to dealing with ex boyfriends, seeing as she only had the one.

"Lor." She looked up quickly. There he was. Just as hot as ever. She pinched herself for _that _one. But she was allowed to think guys were hot. Right? She had thought _tons _of other guys were hot. But she thought Luke was hot too, right, and on top of that she was in _love _with him. So then why was she justifying all of this to herself as Chris stood before her, hair cropped short, in a preppy polo shirt and jacket with jeans.

"Wh – hey!" she exclaimed, standing up so he could kiss her cheek. He slid into the seat across from her. "How _are _you?" Why was her voice like that? Why? Her voice all high and _squeaky. _Why?

"I'm good," he said with a nod. "Grad school at Berkley. Wow," he said, looking at her. "You look great." She smiled. Why would she do that? _What is wrong with you? _she demanded of herself.

"Thanks, you too." _What is the matter with you, Lorelai Gilmore?_

"So, how've you been?" he asked, leaning forward.

"Good," she said with a nod. "Really good. I work at an inn, I'm manager. And I'm engaged, as you've heard."

"Right, right, to – Lars?"

"_Luke." _

"Luke, right. That's – that's the guy from high school."

"Yeah, he is. He's really...special." _Special? _She was calling Luke _special? _Like she had to _justify _it. She shook her head quickly to clear it. "We're getting married in May. The fourteenth, actually."

"Nice," he said with a nod.

"So you were in California?" she said quickly to overcome the awkward silence.

"Yeah. For the past – what, eight years? College, grad school."

"What are you doing, then?"

"Computer technology – software, that sort of stuff," he explained.

"Sounds interesting."

"It's not," he said with a shrug, and she smiled a little. The ice was broken.

They talked for a while over lunch, rehashing the past and also talking about what they had been _up _to for the past seven, eight years. Chris actually came out and apologized for being such an asshole when he had thought it was _his _baby, and when she had accidentally let out a snide, "That's all you're sorry about?" he also apologized for the whole New Year's deal, the whole pressuring, all of it. And so she had accepted his apology, and they had sort of moved past the past.

He was the total gentleman and paid the check, and when they stood up she realized that it was only one thirty.

"We've been here for _that _short a time?" she wondered out loud. "Felt longer."

"That bad, huh?" he joked, and she smiled. "You wanna walk around a little? Visit the old neighborhood sights?"

"Sure," she agreed, so they set off walking about Hartford, the neighborhood right by the high school where Lorelai, Christopher and their friends had spent so much time. They walked by the movie theater where they had snuck into R rated movies on numerous occasions in junior high, and then later in high school where the two of them had snuck to get in a quick make out session, until they _realized _the stupidity in paying six dollars to not even watch the movie. They even walked up to Chris's old house, and then to Lorelai's, and then turned back towards the high school. It was a Saturday, so the school was completely empty, but open for a few teachers who wanted to get some grading done, she supposed. They walked slowly up the steps, talking, until he stopped her at the middle of the steps.

"What?" she asked, surprised, and looked around.

"You don't remember?" he asked, his eyebrows lifting in beautiful confusion. She kicked herself mentally for thinking _that. _Why were these terrible, adulterous thoughts going through her head? All day, she had been thinking _strange _little snippets of freaking _commentary _on Chris's appearance –_ gorgeous _appearance – like it wasn't even _her _thinking these things. She remembered this from high school, how she would want to _hate _him, but all she could think about was that bicep, or something equally ridiculous.

"No, I don't," she replied, trying to think. They were by the thick stone banister that one could sit upon, about halfway down the steps.

"Our first kiss," he said, his head tilted sort of to the side. She laughed.

"What? Chris, our first kiss was sixth grade, seven minutes in heaven." He waved that off.

"That doesn't _count."_

"Okay, then, the bathroom at my house, when you were completely buzzed on champagne."

"Not that _either. _Our first _real _kiss. You _remember, _right?"

"Of course I remember…"

"And then you ran off to see Luke." She had to smile at the irony _there. _"Lor…" he brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, and her stomach lurched.

"No, Chris, don't…" her voice faded out as he came close enough that she was almost _forced _against the banister, and then – _was he leaning in? _No. _Turn away. Turn away _now, _Lorelai. Do it. Do. It. _She easily could have. She _easily _could have just turned her face away, yelled at him and left. But she _didn't. _And so he kissed her, and it set off a whole electric chain inside of her that she hadn't felt since high school. _This _was why she hadn't been able to dump him – this sort of involuntarily arousal that consumed her entire being. The kiss got intense, _fast, _and she didn't even pull away – she was almost _lost _in it, which was terrible to say – until that is, she felt his hand pushing up her shirt, the other sliding down to her waistband, and she came back to her senses and shoved him forcefully away so that he stumbled back at least four feet. He was _exactly _the same, despite what he said. All he wanted was a piece of ass.

"What?" he protested, that whiny strain back in his voice.

"What the hell are you _doing?" _she spluttered, wiping her hand across her mouth. "What – you _know _I'm with – you know what? I don't want to hear it. Jesus, Christopher," she exclaimed with a shake of her head before hurrying down the steps, trying to ignore the ball in her throat that seemed to be _screaming _Luke's name. She stuffed her hands in her coat pockets and walked the few blocks back to her car, keeping her mouth tightly shut to keep out the tears she was sure would escape if she let them.

By the time she got home, a feeling of dread had encompassed her. She _had _to tell Luke – she couldn't live with herself _not _telling him. But the worst part was that she had _no idea _how he would react. The last time something like this had happened, she hadn't _seen _him for six years!

She opened the door to the house and, with a deep breath, walked in.

"Is that you?" she heard Luke call.

"Yeah," she said after a moment.

"Good. Listen, these wedding invitations came, and I know you said there's no such thing as a manly invitation, but seriously, these are like from the land where everything is pink and frilly. I really, _really _hope that your mother picked these out…" she walked into the living room where he sat, surrounded by paper boxes.

"Oh, god," she said when she saw them. "I _told _her I already ordered other ones! What was she - " she stopped herself. _Deal with the issue at hand. _"Luke…"

"I mean, _look _at this!" he was saying, holding up a pink atrocity.

"Luke!" Her tone made him look up and let the invitation fall back on the pile. "I have to talk to you… I_ really _have to talk to you…"

"Okay," he said warily, starting to stand up.

"No, no – sit down," she said quickly, and he did.

"Wait – you're not pregnant are you? Because I _know _that time last month you said you weren't on the pill, but given, you know, the _time _of month and all, it really shouldn't have - "

"Luke! I'm not _pregnant, _okay? Just let me talk."

"Okay," he said as she sat down across from him. "What's going on?" She took a deep breath.

"Okay, before I tell you this I need you to remember that we're getting married in a few months. We are hopelessly in love with each other, and it's unconditional. Okay?"

"Okay…what's going on, Lorelai?"

"Um…I went to see Chris today?"

"Chris?" he repeated. "Wh – Chris, Christopher _Hayden, that _Chris?"

"Wow, you got mad at that," she said under her breath. "Yeah…that Chris."

"_Why?"_

"Well, I'm getting to that. He called last week - "

"You didn't _tell _me that he called."

"Luke, _God! _Let me get this _out!" _

"Okay, okay. Sorry."

"He said he'd changed, basically, and he wanted to see me. I didn't tell you because I didn't even _believe _that I was going until I did, today. We had lunch in Hartford…"

"Uh-huh," he said, seeming a little confused. "So, you weren't going to tell me – why now? What happened?"

"Um…" she sighed. "Okay, so we were walking around the neighborhood and we went to the high school, and we were standing where we had our first kiss – our _real _first kiss, that is, not the drunken one or anything like that – and…" her voice caught and she bit her lip. When she spoke again, her voice was hoarse with suppressed tears that were now slowly leaking their way down her face. "God, Luke, I am so sorry…" she whispered almost desperately, covering her face in her hands. "This is the second time I've done this to you…I don't know what's _wrong _with me, but when I'm around him it's like - "

"Did you sleep with him?" he interrupted – _demanded, _more like.

"No!" she said quickly, looking up. "I have more self control than _that! _But I…well, I could have."

"You could have? What the hell does _that _mean?" He sounded angry, but also…wounded. A side of him she hadn't really seen before.

"Let me _tell _you, then!" she shouted, and covered her mouth with her hand. "Sorry."

"_What happened?" _he demanded.

"Okay." She exhaled quickly. "We were where we had our first kiss, and he – he kissed me," she said, squeezing her eyes shut. Luke was quiet for a moment. "But Luke, I didn't – I didn't encourage it, he brought me there and was like 'Don't you remember? This is where we had our first kiss,' and then he pushed back my hair and kissed me. But I – when he tried to go further, I made him stop."

"So, let me get this straight," Luke said. "He kissed you and you made him stop. Right? Right away, you told him no. _Right? _Lorelai, tell me that's what happened."

"I…"

"You kissed him _back?"_

"No, I _didn't! _But I didn't – I didn't make him stop right…away," she said, her voice so low it was almost a whisper. "I mean, after a few seconds I did, and I didn't kiss him back at _all." _The look on his face almost broke her heart. "I don't know _why _I didn't stop him right away, Luke. Once I – I _realized _what I was doing, I was disgusted, horrified, and I made him stop. I shouted at him."

"But you didn't push him away at first," he said quietly. Decidedly. She had only seen that look on his face once before…

"It's like I couldn't control myself!" she exclaimed. He snorted in laughter. "No, Luke – I mean, it's like with Chris, there's this sort of…raw sexual attraction. No feelings attached, just _desire, _you know? But with you it's different – _better,"_ she insisted. "Because there's the attraction, and it's not as animal, necessarily, but combined with what we _have – _the emotions, the history, everything – it's ten times better. But it's just…I don't know, this attraction, it's like I can't control myself when I'm around him. It's _exactly _why I slept with him in high school. I know – I _knew – _he was bad for me, but it's like some part of me didn't care." She sighed. "This is coming out all wrong. What I'm trying to say is that I really have _no _feelings for Christopher. He's a total asshole who has reappeared in my life over and over again, and every time it's unfortunate. And I'm so sorry, Luke…I'm _so, so _sorry."

"Was it good?"

"Wh – what?"

"When you slept with him, seven years ago, was it any good? Because you're saying there's this _sexiness, _so was it good?"

"Luke, come on…"

"No, I want to know. Really. Tell me."

"No," she said. "It wasn't good. Because I was so torn up over you that I didn't even _feel _it. But everything else…"

"Everything else? There was something _else?"_

"Well, yeah, I mean…everything _but…"_

"I didn't know that."

"Well, now you do."

"So it was good?"

"Yeah, it was, that's what I'm _telling _you – there is – _was - _attraction, I wasn't a blind idiot for staying with him. But if I don't see him again, it'll be insignificant. I have no _feelings _for him, Luke." He was quiet for a long time, and she realized he was standing and not looking at her.

"Look, I just need time to think, okay?" Her breath caught in her throat.

"Think about what…?"

"About whether I can do this," he said bluntly. "About whether I can be with someone who would throw everything away because of sexual magnetism."

"No, Luke – Luke, wait!" she said. "Just – I love you, and I _know _you love me. We have Rory…I mean, if we broke up, that would be…it was me this time. Okay? It was _me _who screwed up, but honestly, _every other time _it's been you, I'm granted my screw ups, I'm not perfect, just - _please, _Luke, you have to believe me when I say that I will _never _see Christopher again. He has no meaning in my life, he's insignificant, he's easy to drop – Luke, listen to me, I am _begging _you, shamelessly, to please, _please _not end this over my screw up. Please."

"I still need…_time."_

"Yeah," she said. "That's fine, I get that, take time…" he turned to go. "Just – Luke?" He stopped, looked at her. "Don't take to long, okay? Because I – I don't want you to forget."

"Forget about what?" His voice was tight with – tears?

"Us," she said, her voice a hoarse whisper. He nodded once, abruptly, and swung his hands back and together. With another quick nod, he was out the door, and she let her head fall forward into her hands.

* * *

Time. He needed _time. _How long was time? A few hours? Days? _Weeks? _When he didn't come back that night and she and Rory sat through a bleak takeout dinner, the only explanation she could give her daughter for where Daddy had gone was, "Daddy needs to think." And what did that _mean? _She had less than 50/50 odds here. She had cheated, she _knew _she had cheated, and it wasn't like when Luke had kissed Sophia, no matter how much she had tried to convince herself of that. He _had _pushed her away. She hadn't kissed Chris back, but she had let things heat up, let him get far enough so as to try and go further. That wasn't the same. She _had _cheated, and if this was what he saw, then it was over. But if he believed what she said, that she didn't have any emotional feelings for Christopher but that there _was _attraction there, then maybe, _maybe, _they would have another chance.

Yet another day passed without word from Luke. She drove by the diner at least seventy times, and even considered sending Rory in, but she knew that if she pushed him, he would bolt. This was _Luke. _She knew him, she knew exactly what hurt him and what made him laugh, but this was new. Because this time _she _had hurt him, and this time she was conscious of it. She didn't know how to deal with the Luke who seemed to be holding back tears – the gruff, almost unemotional guy who _never _cried, had been _holding back tears _on her account. She didn't know what to say this time to make it okay, because she really didn't know if it _would _be okay.

Luke had Rory the second night. That was what they had arranged a while ago, it was part of their routine, and she felt like if she broke the routine it would break _them. _So, she dropped Rory off in town and then went home to feel sorry for herself. As if. She was more busy hating herself, wanting to kill the part of herself that was attracted to Chris. She wondered what would have happened if she _hadn't _broken the kiss. If things had gone farther, would she have told Luke? And without a doubt that would have ended things between them. Would she have gone to Chris? She knew instantly that no, she wouldn't have, in the same way that when Luke disappeared after they had slept together in high school, she hadn't _been _with Chris, not in a relationship.

Finally, the next day, she heard a car pull up in front of the house and she went outside. Sure enough, the green truck's door opened and Rory darted out. Luke came out more slowly from the driver's seat, lifting his hand in a half wave at her.

"Rory, honey, go inside, okay? I'll be back in a minute." Rory agreed happily and went inside, and Lorelai descended from the steps that seemed to be the spot where they had so many after-fight conversations. They met in the middle of the lawn, a safe two feet apart. Neither spoke for a moment. Then –

"I was going to come back here and end things," Luke said, his voice sounding tired. "I was going to tell you that I couldn't do it, I couldn't be with you after you'd kissed him, and that I was sorry." He must have seen her panicked expression, because he continued quickly. "But then I realized that breaking up with you would just be idiotic. I mean, we have Rory. We'll have to keep seeing each other. And yeah, maybe I'm upset over what happened, but you _did _stop him, you didn't kiss him back. I believe you. And I won't be upset forever, and even if I _did _end things, we would be back together in three months tops, and we're already getting married, and - " he paused to collect his thoughts. "What I'm saying is, I forgive you. And if you want a second chance, you've got it." She breathed out a sigh of relief, and sort of stumbled forward towards him.

"My god, Luke, thank you…" and then she sort of collapsed against him.

"You okay?"

"I haven't slept for two nights," she mumbled into his chest, and he kissed the top of her head lightly. She turned her face up so he could _really _kiss her, and he did. "Never again," she said when they had broke apart. "I _swear _to you, Luke, that I will _never _see him again. Ever."

"Okay," he said. "As long as you can control that…what was it? Raw sexual magnetism?" She pushed his chest playfully.

"Stop it."

"Oh, I'll _never _let this go." They kissed again, and then she took his hand.

"Come on. We'd better get inside."


	25. So Why Don't We Go

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **So Why Don't We Go

**Author's Note: **So, so, _so _sorry this update took so long. See, originally this chapter was going to be the wedding, but then I _really _liked the ending, and I wanted it as the ending of the story, so I had to whip up a filler chapter. And then once I _wrote _this Author's Note, I was attacked by midterms. Again – _sorry!!!! _

On a happier note, I'm proud to announce that this story has been published at BWR, and as of the 28th was on the front page in the recently updated feed, so it's easy to find. Same penname, same story title, same everything, so check it out and review so I don't feel as left out.

Other than that, this chapter is going to focus a little less on Luke and Lorelai and a little more on the other people in Lorelai's life, which was originally going to be the idea of the last chapter. Enjoy! 

NOTE: I went a little photoshop crazy and made some "art" for this story. Two posters for the movie – using the names of the characters that I've rewritten for the screenplay – one merged image of Luke and Lorelai slash Will and Charlotte, and one image of a kiss. Now, I am extremely, extremely proud of this kiss picture, because I took two completely separate pictures and used my mad skills to make something pretty damn special. So enjoy! Just remove the spaces from the URL below.

http// s105 . photobucket . com / albums / m 231 / coffeechick 93

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated with them. Chapter and story titles are taken from Somewhere Only We Know by Keane. 

"Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking," she said with a sigh. Today was just one of those days.

"Lorelai?" her mother shouted into her ear. She jumped.

"Mom, why are you _yelling?" _

"I'm using the speakerphone!" she bellowed.

"Mom stop – stop yelling!" she shouted back, holding the phone a good arms length away from her head. "Just talk normally."

"All right," Emily said, and she heard a click. "I've taken it off speakerphone."

"Okay," Lorelai responded seriously, mimicking her mother's confidential tone. "So, what's up, mom?"

"Something has to be _up _for me to call my daughter?" She rolled her eyes.

"No, but something usually is."

"Well," Emily said resignedly, "As you know, your father and I leave for our spring trip to Europe on March 18th."

"Mmmhmm."

"Tomorrow is March 15th."

"Mmmhmm."

"It's also a Friday."

"Mmmhmm."

"Lorelai, stop that."

"Mmm – sorry. Yes?"

"Well, it just occurred to me that Luke hasn't been by for dinner in a while." Lorelai froze, and then squeezed her eyes shut. Oh, this _would _be a fun one to break to Luke.

"Mmmhmm…?" she squeaked warily.

"And since we get back on April 29th and I highly doubt you'll have time to bring Luke to dinner that close to the wedding – I imagine he'll be running your errands for you…" As if she was happily going to Friday night dinner and dumping her duties on Luke. "…I just thought you should bring him tomorrow so we can see our soon to be son-in-law _before _he's walking down the aisle."

"You know, I don't really know if Luke's free," Lorelai started lamely, but Emily cut her off.

"This isn't your decision, Lorelai. If Luke doesn't want to come, he doesn't have to." Yeah. Because _that _would go over well. "Well?"

"You can count on him being here," she finally said, defeated.

"Good," Emily decided. "Well, that's all. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Mom," Lorelai said wearily as she hung up the phone. She sighed and then traipsed into the kitchen, where she was attacked by a spoon. "Whoa." She stepped back from Sookie, who was brandishing a wooden spoon at her.

"Try it!" her friend squealed, and Lorelai looked at the spoon tentatively. It was covered in a red substance.

"Um…I'm kinda in a coffee mood…"

"_Try it!"_

"What _is _it?"

"Raspberry sauce," Sookie announced. "And it's _delicious. _Come on, just a little taste." Lorelai opened her mouth obligingly and let the hot red sauce spread over her tongue.

"That is good," she agreed as she walked to the coffee machine. _"Really _good! Wow!"

"Yeah," Sookie said nervously. Lorelai put her coffee cup down on the counter and looked at her.

"What?"

"Well, you know," she said giggly, "I was thinking I could use it as a dribble on the cake."

"My cake?"

"Uh-huh."

"What kind of cake is that again?" Lorelai asked eagerly. She just loved hearing Sookie describe it.

"It's a chocolate truffle cake," Sookie said excitedly, "With vanilla cream frosting and a little sugar you and Luke on top. With raspberry drizzle!"

"Yeah!" Lorelai jumped up and high-fived her friend. "Oh, I can't wait, I need that cake _now."_

"You'll have it soon enough," Sookie scolded her. "You know, I was thinking we could get you and Luke to model for the cake topper…"

"No," Lorelai said instantly.

"But - "

"If you think," Lorelai said clearly, 'That Luke would under _any _circumstances model for a _cake topper, _you have obviously never met the guy." Sookie shrugged and turned to stir in something.

"So how _is _Luke?" she asked.

"He's good," Lorelai said honestly.

"And how are _you _and Luke?"

"We're good," she assured her just as honestly.

"No more tension over the whole you and Christopher debacle?" Lorelai sighed, taking a big sip of coffee.

"Define tension," she said cagily. Sookie gave her a look. "No, I mean…we're doing great. Honest. I tell you when things are bad. No awkwardness or anything…but if I get close to the subject he gets sorta edgy."

"Can't blame the guy," Sookie said with a shrug. Now it was Lorelai's turn to throw _her _a look. "Well, come on, Lorelai!" At her blank look, she rolled her eyes. "All right, I'll draw it out for you. First, you didn't tell him you were _with _the guy for months in high school. Why? Guilt. Did it make Chris a sore spot? Yes. Then, you _slept _with him after Luke, and managed to mislead Luke into thinking you were pregnant with _Chris's _baby, which lead him not to talk to you for six years. Then when the two of you are engaged, you run off kissing him!" At Lorelai's objection, she held up a hand. "I'm just saying, from Luke's point of view, Chris must be the _last _person he'd _ever _want to talk about." Lorelai shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right." She shook her head with a laugh. "God, put it like that and it really sounds like _I _was the one who screwed him over…" she trailed off as something dawned on her. _That _was what Luke had meant those few years ago when he had said that she had hurt him, too. She'd never really known quite how, but there it was, plain as day. She had slept with the guy who Luke hated, and lead Luke to believe it was Chris's baby.

"Lorelai?" Sookie questioned, waving a hand in front of her face. "You okay over there?"

"Yeah, I just…god, I'm so stupid," she said, shaking her head. "If I had just…we could have…"

"Use your words," Sookie suggested.

"If I hadn't been so _stupid _and just admitted to myself that it was Luke's baby…we might have had those six years." Sookie nodded slowly.

"Yeah. But then again, you would have been so much younger. Like Luke said…maybe it _was _better to start later, when you were both older." Lorelai shrugged.

"Well, that's all in the past now," she said, quoting Luke. "What I _really _should be focusing on is that my wedding is in two months."

"And that you'll be twenty-five soon," Sookie added. "You can rent a _car!" _That made her laugh. "Now I know what your cake will be."

"A car?"

"Mmmm! Your birthday cake, that is. I don't think you'd want a car wedding cake."

"Maybe not," Lorelai agreed as she finished the coffee. "I think I'll stick to the raspberry drizzle."

* * *

"I'm _sorry!" _Lorelai insisted again as she, Luke and Rory stood outside of the Gilmore mansion. "I tried to get you out of it, I promise." 

"Hey, it's okay," Luke said. "Your mom seemed okay last time I saw her."

"She called your diner _quaint."_

"That's nice!"

"No, Luke. Ohhh, Luke," she said, shaking her head. "Quaint is anything but nice. Quaint is…small, dusty, dis_gusting. _That's what quaint is." Luke just shrugged.

"Are we going in?" She was about to ring the bell when she turned back to him.

"You can go. I can't subject you to this torture, and she said if you don't want to come, you don't have to - "

"_Ring the bell!" _Rory and Luke bellowed at her, so she did. They were ushered in by a maid to whom they handed off their coats, and then showed into the sitting room where Emily and Richard already were.

"Hello!" Emily said cheerily, standing. Lorelai blinked. "Luke, how good to see you! Tell me, how _are _you?"

"Can I make you a drink, Luke?" Richard offered.

"Yeah, I'll have a b - " he stopped at Lorelai's look. "Uh, wine is fine."

"Lorelai?"

"Gin martini," she said as she did every time. "With an olive."

"And Rory…what would you like?"

"Just water is fine, Grandpa," Rory said sweetly. When everyone was served their respective drinks, they all settled around the coffee table.

"So, Luke," Richard started. "How's the diner business going?"

"Pretty good," Luke said with a nod. "I just upgraded the menu to go with inflation…that did _not _please Kirk…"

"Who's Kirk?" Emily queried.

"Kirk is someone who lives in town," Rory offered. "He sells bananas and his laundry. And he has at least fifteen jobs." Emily and Richard looked unsure how to respond to this, so they looked at Lorelai instead.

"And Lorelai? How's the inn?"

"Oh, it's out," she said flippantly.

"I'm sorry?"

"The inn…out? In, out…never mind," she said with a sigh. "The inn is fine, thanks. We're holding a wedding there next week. Hey, Rory, tell her about the story you wrote." Emily looked expectantly at Rory, who blushed, smiled and said,

"Well, it's about a frog…"

* * *

It was during the meal that the attention switched from pleasant things like work and school to the wedding. Emily wanted to know everything – even though Lorelai had included her on most of the plans. What kind of cake were they having? What flowers in the centerpieces? Who was Luke inviting? Who was _Lorelai _inviting? Had Aunt Marilyn responded? They had to repeat everything back to Emily in detail, clearly boring Richard and Rory to death. 

"Well," Emily said disapprovingly, "I still don't see _why _you have to have it in the _town square. _The reception, that is. What if it rains?"

"Then we'll put up tents," Luke answered surely. Lorelai squeezed his hand under the table, a silent gesture of thanks. Emily mulled this over for a moment, and then changed the subject.

"Do you like your veal, Luke?" He glanced down at the veal.

"Yeah, its great."

"I'm sure the cook could give you the recipe."

"Um, Mom?" Lorelai stepped in. "Luke doesn't exactly serve veal in his diner. It's more of a…burgers and tuna melt kind of place."

"Oh," Emily commented, nonplussed. "Well, I'm glad to know you have access to your favorite foods, Lorelai." Lorelai rolled her eyes at the thinly veiled insult.

"Mmmhmm," she said, and forcefully cut off a piece of meat. She tightened her grip on Luke's hand, and he looked at her. _What? _was clearly etched on his face. She shook her head and sighed.

"So, Luke, is your family coming to the wedding?" Emily asked innocently.

"Yeah, my sister is. With her son."

"And your parents?"

"Luke's parents passed away a few years ago," Lorelai stepped in hastily.

"Oh, how terrible," Richard sympathized. "I lost my father a few years ago. It is awful, isn't it?" Luke nodded quickly, looking at his plate.

"Yeah…yeah."

"How did it happen?"

"_Dad!" _Lorelai exclaimed. _"Can _you not?" Richard shrugged in apology, and they all returned awkwardly to their finished meals.

"What's for dessert, grandma?" Rory asked.

"Ah, well that's a surprise," Emily said mysteriously.

"A surprise dessert!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Whatever could it be?" Rory asked, grinning.

"Maybe it's pudding."

"Or ice cream!"

"Or _s'mores!"_

"Marshmallows," Rory mused, her voice taking on a dreamy quality.

"Apple pie…"

"Chocolate mousse…"

"Chocolate _sorbet.__"_

"Banana cream pie."

"_Coconut _cream pie."

"Are you two just naming every dessert that comes to mind?" Emily asked, and Lorelai and Rory were broken from their trance.

"Did we guess it right?"

"Yes! We did!" Lorelai exclaimed. "It's coconut cream pie, that's why she stopped us right there."

"Ooh! I _love _coconut cream pie."

"It's not coconut cream pie!" Emily half-shouted, and they were silenced.

"Jeez, Mom," Lorelai said disapprovingly. "You can't get us so excited over coconut cream pie and then just _snatch _it away like that."

"Really, Emily." Richard said mockingly, and Emily threw her hands up in the air.

"Gerta!" she called. "Bring out the dessert, please!"

"It is _so _coconut cream pie," Lorelai confided in Luke, who just grinned and shook his head. When the dessert came out, however, it was _not _coconut cream pie but rather a blazing birthday cake. "What?" she exclaimed, confused. "My birthday's not for a month!"

"Yes, but we won't be here for your birthday," Emily exclaimed patiently, "Hence the cake."

"Happy birthday to you…" Rory started, and they all sang to her, as Lorelai grinned goofily at the chocolatey creamy confection. Once the cook had brought it away to be cut up, Richard said,

"You know, Lorelai, this is a square birthday." She blinked.

"A what?"

"A square birthday. Your last one was sixteen. Before that, nine."

"Right…" she said slowly, not quite understanding him. "And your point is…?"

"Well, I was just thinking how nice it is that we get to spend a square birthday with you when you are old enough to appreciate it and not throw up the cake and blame it on your hormones," Richard finished pleasantly.

"But it's not even my birthday!"

"I'm just saying," he said, and shrugged.

"Well," Luke said, "Happy square birthday to you."

"It's like you're five," Rory pointed out.

"It's _like _she's five?" Luke teased, and Lorelai threw him a look.

"I _am _five, thank you very much."

"Clearly," Emily muttered as the cake was served. Lorelai dug in eagerly along with Rory, while Emily, Richard and Luke ate their pieces slowly and politely.

"Sookie's making a chocolate truffle cake for the wedding," Lorelai said dreamily when she was finished. "With vanilla cream frosting and a little sugar me and Luke on the top…"

"In other words, a heart attack on a plate," Luke finished.

"I requested that she make you a special tofutti cake," she teased him, and he rolled his eyes. Richard stood.

"Luke," he said loudly, "What do you say you, Rory and I go into the sitting room to chat and give Emily and Lorelai a chance to talk?" Lorelai balked.

"Oh, Dad, that's really - " but they were already gone, and Emily turned to her, a stern look on her face. "Hi, Mom…" she said tentatively. "What's up?"

"Lorelai, I want to discuss your future," Emily said.

"Ooh, goody. The magic eight ball is still in my room - "

" – with _Luke," _Emily clarified.

"Oh. Well, we're getting married - "

"I _know _that. Listen to me, Lorelai. You have known Luke for a very long time. For ten years."

"Actually, a little over eleven." Emily looked at her for a moment and then moved on.

"To be quite honest, I don't see what you see in him. Frankly, he seems like a small town, blue collar, grump of a man, but - "

"That's not true," Lorelai interrupted seriously. "How can you _say _that when you barely even know him? Luke is _so much more _than what you think of him! I know him better than _anyone, _and I _know _he thinks the same of me. Yes, he's my fiancé, but he's also _my best friend. _It took me _years _to get to know him this well, yet you've seen him all of ten times and you think you've got him all figured out? God, Mom, he _loves _me! _I _love _him!"_

"If you'd let me finish," Emily said coldly, "I was going to _say _that even though he seems that way to me, I also see the way you are when the two of you are together. I see the way he looks at you…he seems like he really knows you. More than _I _ever could. You two…you fit. And you seem happy. So if Luke makes you happy - "

" – he _does - "_

" – then I want you to be happy," Emily finished.

"So you're, what, giving me your blessing? Your _permission?"_ she demanded angrily.

"Yes," Emily said with a simple shrug, and Lorelai didn't protest.

"Okay," she said. "Well…thanks. I guess."

"You're welcome. I guess." Lorelai smiled slightly, and then sighed.

"We should get going…Rory has to go to bed soon."

"All right." They stood and went into the living room, where she saw Luke studying her intently. She smiled shyly, confused.

"We're gonna go, Dad, it's getting late. Thanks so much for dinner…both of you…"

"It was great," Luke added. He shook Richard's hand. The elder Gilmore walked them to the door, and Rory reached up to kiss both of them on the cheek.

"Bye, Grandma. Bye, Grandpa." Once they were in the car, Luke turned to her, that subtle smile on his face.

"Thanks," he said softly.

"For what?"

"What you said to your mom? Thanks."

"Oh." She blushed slightly. "Well, you don't have to thank me, Luke. It's all true." A silent look passed between them, and she said, even more softly, with a wicked gleam in her eyes, "However, if you _want _to thank me…"

"Later," he said quickly, looking at Rory, and Lorelai nodded, even though Rory was already fast asleep.


	26. Somewhere Only We Know

**Story: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Rating: **Teen

**Chapter Title: **Somewhere Only We Know

**Author's Note: **I'm really sorry for the delay in the update...see, the chapter's actually been ready for weeks. I seem to have a bit of a problem.

You see, this is by far my favorite story I've ever written - Fan Fiction or not, as I've said before, I like to think that it could easily stand for a story on it's own if you changed the name and locales and scenarios a bit. And, being the slightly crazed, overly-attached person I am, I couldn't quite bring myself to post it. To quote Monica from Friends, "It's like the end of an era!"

Okay, okay, you probably think I'm being way overdramatic. But I'll miss this story. :(

So, thanks to all my loyal, helpful reviewers, and even to the loyal unhelpfuls, or just the unhelpfuls – whatever you did, it kept me going, and despite myself I still can't help but smile when I see that my review count has gone up by a "update soon."

Look out for new stories, although after this it might take a _while _to get some inspiration. I'm actually, like, in love with this story.

OH. That reminds me. So I made a joking note in a previous chapter that you know, in ten years from now when you see a movie that is SURPRISINGLY like this, don't worry, _it's still me. _Well, I'm writing a screenplay now, but given the fact that I'm still in high school, it might take a _little _while to hit the big screen. Haha.

Okay, okay, I'll stop procrastinating, you're right. Here it is. Review! Please! I really want to hit the 200 mark on this story and, well, this is my last chance. :( If you've been reading and not reviewing - SHOW YOURSELF! Thank you so much! Okay. Okay. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Okay, I give up. I WANT IT. I don't own it. But y'know, in past chapters I've been very succinct and given no indication that I do not _want _to own Gilmore Girls? Well. Guess what. I'M NORMAL. cries The show is, like, _over. _Can't I buy it _now? _Please? Pretty please? I'll write the next ten seasons by tomorrow…_fine. _I do not own Gilmore Girls, nor am I in any way affiliated, blahdeeblahblah.

Enjoy!

_May 14__th__, 1993. Lorelai's bedroom. 7:15 am. 10 hours and 45 minutes until the wedding._

Lorelai jerked awake the second her alarm clock went off at least two hours before she _ever _woke up by choice. She winced as she felt the slight pain in her head. That was what she got for drinking two martinis at her bachelorette party the night before, but Sookie had cut her off after two, telling her that there was nothing worse than a hungover bride. For a second she wondered where Luke was, and then remembered that she had insisted he stay at his place out of tradition. She let her mind slowly accustom to being awake, and then she catapulted herself out of bed and into the shower, shocking herself to alertness. By the time she had scrubbed every inch of her body clean and was wrapped in her fluffy bathrobe with a towel on her head, she could hear Rory downstairs, so she went down.

"Happy wedding day!" Rory shouted in her face the second she got down.

"Happy my wedding day to you!" she shouted back, and instantly set about making coffee. She popped two aspirin to keep her slight headache at bay. "Got the list?" she asked Rory over her shoulder.

"Yep! Okay. Sookie is coming over in half an hour to do your nails and help with everything. Then you have to call the caterer, band, DJ, florist and place card people to confirm that everything has been delivered slash will be set up in three hours. Then you have to call Luke and remind him to pick up his tux, because they were late delivering it. Then you have to _go _to Luke's and march his butt, as you put it, to the tux shop. Then you come back and we have lunch. Then you and Sookie decide on a hair style, then you do your hair. Then you steam our dresses, and check on them to make sure the shower isn't doing it's spazzy thing and spraying them all. Then you nap. I know you hate naps, but you have to look awake, and _not _by coffee, so: nap. At four we fix your hair and do your makeup, as well as mine and Sookie's. At five the limo comes. At five fifteen you call Luke and make sure he's almost there and has his tux. Then you make your stupid _forty-five minutes! _squeals, and by the time you get off the phone it's five thirty. Then people start to arrive, and we hide. At six, the ceremony starts." Rory looked up from the list. "That's all."

"I'm pretty busy today, aren't I?"

"Yes," Rory said, "But that's okay. You're getting married." She shoved food that Luke had dropped off the night before and a bottle of body lotion at her. "Eat. Moisturize. Sookie's coming soon." Lorelai nodded and obeyed, eating the pancakes and fruit (Rory insisted) off of the plate. Then the morning went into fast-forward, and before she knew it she had the phone propped under her ear against her shoulder while Sookie painted her nails meticulously with peachy polish and filed them down.

"And the centerpieces are the tulips, right? It was a last minute decision, but my mother – yes, exactly. They are? Great. And…oh, did the lavender turn up? No? That's fine, then – yes, purple and pale blue – white is fine, yeah. Okay, great. Thank you. Bye." She nudged the end button with her chin and motioned for Rory to take the phone. She recited the next number to her and then allowed Rory to carefully slide the phone under her chin. "Hello? Yes, this is Lorelai Gilmore. I'm calling to check that everything is being delivered. Great! The food's going to be stored at Luke's Diner – you see it? Good. No, he shouldn't mind, I told him about it. No, don't worry, I told him – yes. Make sure to leave room for the cake, someone will be delivering it later." She glanced at Sookie for confirmation, who nodded. "Okay. Thank you!" Rory repeated the motions, and they went through the confirmation process until she was sure that everything was under control. _Then _she could relax for a few minutes while her nails dried.

"So?" Sookie said once they were technology free. "How do you feel? Nervous? Excited? Terrified?"

"All of those things," Lorelai admitted. "Nervous that something awful will happen – like, a drunken cousin will knock over some big fancy sculpture or something, or that the food will give everyone food poisoning. Excited – well, _mostly _excited, really, because I'm getting _married _today! And terrified…in a good way. Like, I'm scared out of my _mind _about the next phase, not because I don't think we can do it, but because what we already _have _is so amazing that I don't know _what's _coming next. But I'm mostly excited. _Definitely _excited."

"Well, you should be," Sookie agreed.

"Yeah," Rory chimed in. "I mean, it's _Dad."_

"Yeah," Lorelai said softly, unable to contain her smile. "It is."

* * *

_Luke's Diner. 10:00 am. 8 hours until the wedding._

Lorelai burst into the diner with a bang, until she realized that it was entirely empty, given that Luke had closed for the wedding. She hurried upstairs and banged on the door to his apartment.

"Luuuke! Open up!" The door opened, and Luke's eyes lit up when he saw her. He kissed her hello and ushered her in.

"How's it going?" he asked. "Frantic yet?"

"Just a bit. Come on."

"Come on…?"

"To get your _tux! _I told you over the phone."

"You didn't have to _come…_I would have done it."

"Timely? No. Come on." She shoved him out the door and marched him to the jeep. They drove the ten minutes to the shop a bit out of Stars Hollow, Lorelai chattering the entire time about what was and was not going according to plan, and Luke sitting with a slight smile on his face. She looked over at him at a red light. "What?"

"Nothing. I just like seeing you so excited. It's nice." She grinned.

"I like _being _so excited." She pulled up in front of the store and got out. They entered the slightly stuffy store and were approached by an attractive man in a tuxedo himself.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"We're picking up a tuxedo under the name Luke Danes?" The man nodded and reappeared a few minutes later carrying a garment bag. "Try it on," Lorelai said.

"I'm sure it fits…"

"Just make sure. There's no margin for error today." He rolled his eyes but took the tux into a dressing room. When he came out a few minutes later, walking awkwardly, her eyes widened. "No, no, no!" she exclaimed. "What happened?"

"I don't know," he said stiffly, "But I think that maybe – _maybe – _you got my measurements wrong." Her hand to her mouth, she stared. The pants were at least five inches too short, and much too wide. The jacket, on the other hand, reached down to his knees, and the shoulders stretched tight across his broad ones.

"Wow. What strangely proportioned dwarf was this suit made for?" She groaned. "I _knew _something like this was going to happen. Why, _why _did I leave this to the last minute?" she cried melodramatically.

"Calm _down," _he told her. He turned to the sales assistant, who already had five suits on hand. "I'll just try these on. I'm not you. It can be off the rack." She winced but sighed.

Four tuxes later, he emerged in the _right _one. It wasn't the tux she had pictured – it wasn't a tux at all, but rather a black blazer and pants over a crisp white shirt, a black tie hanging smartly from his neck. She smiled.

"That," she said, "Is, like, my fantasy come to life." He raised an eyebrow.

"I look like an idiot."

"You _look _absolutely gorgeous," she corrected him. "Please, _please _ditch the flannel and wear that every day." He glared at her and looked in the mirror, tugging uncomfortably on the sleeves.

"I don't know…"

"Luke," she said into his ear, coming to stand behind him. She slid her arms around his shoulders and adjusted his collar, and then rested her chin on his shoulder. "You look so sexy in that, that if we hadn't agreed not to have sex before the wedding night, I would do you right here and now. That enough confirmation for you?" He blushed but grinned a little.

"Gee. I sure hope you can control yourself." At her look, he laughed. "Okay, okay. Let me take this off." A few minutes later they were back in the car, the tux laid across the backseat. "You're speedy today," he commented. "We couldn't have been in there for more than ten minutes."

"Time's a'wasting," she said. "I have to get back. Sookie, Rory, your sister, my _mother _and I are having brunch."

"Brunch with your mother? Really? My _sister? _Really?"

"A wedding thing," she said with a wave of her hand. "And I _love _your sister! Besides, it's only appropriate that all the women of the party are there."

"But your mother and my sister aren't _in _the wedding."

"So? Doesn't mean I don't want them to come. I mean, sure, I don't always get along with my mom, but it's my wedding day. I can do with a brunch." He grinned subtly and, when she stopped to let him off at the diner, kissed her on the lips.

"See you at our wedding," he said when they broke apart.

"See you," she said with an involuntary smile, and when he was out of the car she drove back to the house.

* * *

_Weston's. 11:30 am. 6 hours and 30 minutes until the wedding._

"To Lorelai," Sookie proposed, raising her tea. "On her special day. Knock 'em dead."

"A_men," _Lorelai agreed emphatically, and the five women clinked glasses and sipped their drinks. She set down her iced coffee and smiled contentedly.

"So? How are the last minute plans going?" Emily asked. "Do you need help?"

"_No," _she said forcefully. It had taken enough convincing to get Emily out of the idea of a party planner – she had to remind her that she herself, in fact, had planned countless wedding as the Independence Inn. Another round of convincing had let Emily know that she could handle the wedding day arrangements by herself, yet her mother still did not seem to get the picture. "Everything is under control. We had a little tuxedo mishap, and the DJ had some sound problems, but they're all taken care of. _Don't worry."_

"I'll tell you," Liz said, "If this were _my _wedding? I would be a nervous wreck! I was," she amended.

"You've been married?" Rory asked, interested.

"Yeah. Once."

"Well why did you break up?" the eight year old asked, clearly perplexed.

"Those things don't always work out, honey," Lorelai stepped in quickly.

"You and Daddy won't break up, though, right?"

"That doesn't seem like part of the plan."

"Good," Rory decided. Lorelai took another bite of her cake.

"Got the jitters yet?" Sookie wanted to know.

"Are you kidding me? I've been shaky all day. It's not cold feet jitters, though. Just, I-hope-the-cake-doesn't-have-a-bomb-in-it jitters."

"Hey!" Sookie protested. "I would never put a _bomb _in your cake!" Lorelai smiled.

"Speaking of which, Lorelai," Emily chimed in, "I can't see _why _you're having _cake _for lunch when you really should be eating something healthier. It _is _your wedding day, after all."

"And why should I suffer on my wedding day?"

"A_men," _Rory said, imitating her mother's reaction of just a few minute ago.

"Really, Rory," was all Emily said with a shake of her head. "So everything is going according to plan?" Lorelai nodded, her mouth full. When she had swallowed, she said,

"Yeah. Everything's being delivered, and being set up as we speak." She nodded out the window, to where the town square was being transformed into the party space.

"It's going to be a beautiful wedding," Liz said.

"It really will be," she said dreamily, her eyes transfixed on the scene outside. She nodded. "Yes...it...will."

* * *

_The Crap Shack – living room. 4:10 pm. 1 hour and 50 minutes until the wedding._

"Stop moving!" Sookie ordered as she fixed Lorelai's mussed hair. She had been _supposed _to nap, but had been so excited that she'd only gotten about ten minutes of shut eye. As Sookie recurled the loose ringlets and brushed them out so her brown hair fell in glossy soft curls to her shoulder blades, Lorelai peered into the mirror that was part of the makeshift salon they had transformed the living room into. She reached out without moving her head to hold her brown eyeliner pencil over the radiator – a trick she had learned as a teenager - to melt it so that it went on thicker and smoother. She applied a very thin layer to her lower lid and then another. She put a third layer just in the outer corner of her eye, and then winced as she did the upper lid. She moved on the second eye. Then came two coats of mascara, then the carefully planned out eyeshadow scheme – champagne, peach and rose – then liquid foundation, then powder, then blush. She smeared lip balm all over her lips and mashed them together, and then coated her lips in pink lipstick. She finished it off with a layer of clear gloss, and smiled at her reflection.

"Earrings," she sid to Rory, who handed her the chandelier earrings she would wear with her dress. Sookie dropped the last curl from the curling iron and brushed it out.

"Look at yourself," her friend told her, and flipped the mirror so it went away from the magnifier and to the normal mirror. Lorelai couldn't help but smile. She really _did _look good. After a moment, she stood up.

"Your turn," she said, and began on their hair.

* * *

_The Church – back room. 5:25 pm. 35 minutes until __the wedding._

"So you're on the way?" Lorelai said into the phone, unable to keep her fingers from nervously tapping on every surface they found.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll be there in a few minutes, I just have to dry my hair," Luke's voice came through the earpiece

"What a girl," she teased with a smile. "Hey, guess what."

"What?"

"The next time we see each other, we'll be getting married. How _cool _is _that?"_

"Very cool," he allowed. She glanced at the clock.

"Hey, Luke."

"Hey, Lorelai."

"_Thirty two minutes!" _He made a mocking squeal and then laughed.

"See you soon."

"Bye." She hung up the phone and walked to the full length mirror at the other end of the room. There she was. A bride. She hadn't ever had the chance to _see _herself as a bride before, and the effect was a little daunting. Her dress – no poof, but an a-line skirt and thin spaghetti straps – was absolutely perfect, _this _she had decided months ago. She couldn't stand poofy, ridiculous confections that looked like something out of a cupcake factory, but she didn't want to look like she was in her nightgown. The dress itself wasn't _quite _white, but had a slight cream tinge, and the shoes died to match peeked out from the skirt.

"You look so pretty, Mommy," Rory said, standing next to her in her lavender bridesmaid's dress.

"Thanks, sweetheart," she said, giving her daughter a squeeze on the shoulder. Sookie came back from her post peeking out at the church.

"People are starting to arrive." Lorelai bit her lip to keep from bursting out in excited squeals.

"This is actually happening," she marveled. "I mean, it _took _us ten-odd years, but it's actually…I just can't believe that after today, there'll be no more _worrying, _you know? No more stupid teenage games. It's forever, and that's…that's amazing to me."

"That's so beautiful," Sookie squeaked, and Lorelai giggled. Emily poked her head through the door and then came in, looking perfectly regal in a royal blue dress. She carried a white box.

"Hello, Sookie. And _Rory! _Well, you just look darling. Would you two mind giving me a moment alone with Lorelai?"

"Um…sure!" Sookie agreed, and took Rory into another back room, leaving Emily and Lorelai alone together.

"You look beautiful, Lorelai," Emily said, walking to stand before her daughter. "Much like I did when I married Richard, in fact. You have the same glow about you." Lorelai smiled.

"Thanks, mom."

"You already know," she said, "That I've had my doubts about this marriage…after all, Luke isn't from our world. But then again, neither were you, really, not ever. And I look at what you two have…it's astounding, really. But I've said that already" Emily sighed. "Anyways, I wanted you to have this." She opened the box, revealing a wedding veil.

"Oh, mom…"

"I know you didn't want to wear a veil, but…here." She slid the headband onto her daughter's head, and then flipped the veil back over her hair. "That way you don't have to have your face obstructed if you don't want it to be. This was my wedding veil," she added. Lorelai turned to the mirror. The veil had floating pearls that made her look almost charmed. It was beautiful.

"Thank you," she said honestly. "Really, mom…" then she sighed. "Can you get dad?" Emily looked at her knowingly and nodded, before disappearing back into the church. A few minutes later, Richard appeared.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Look, Dad," she said, pacing the tiniest bit. "I know that when I asked before you said no because you don't approve and all that, but just listen to me, okay? Even _mom _sees it, that Luke and I are just so in love, and it's _not _infatuation, it's more than that. I _know _that this is meant to be, even if you don't approve. But I wish you would, because…just, I'll ask again, would you _please _give me away?" She tried her hardest not to sound like she was begging. "I couldn't stand it if everyone saw you in the audience and knew there was a reason why you weren't. This is a big day for me. I don't want you to not be a part of it. Please, Dad." Richard sighed heavily.

"All right." Her face lit up and she flung herself at him.

"Thank you," she murmured into his shoulder, before releasing him. Richard kissed her cheek and opened the door so Sookie and Rory could come out. Sookie and Rory reemerged from the bathroom and assumed their posts by the door, spying into the hall. Within a few minutes, the tell-tale music that would signify the first portion of the wedding began to play, and Lorelai knew that Luke was emerging from a side door to stand at the front of the hall.

"He looks _good," _Sookie declared. "Did you pick that suit?" Lorelai nodded and put a finger to her lips. She wanted to listen. "Oh! Our turn." Sookie and Rory flung open the doors importantly and began their walk down the aisle, holding their bouquets of lavender and white flowers. Lorelai's heart fluttered in her chest as she assumed her own position by the door. This was it. Any minute now, the song would play and she would emerge. Sure enough, the wedding march started up, and she heard the rustle of everybody standing. Her father came and linked arms with her, and they opened the doors simultaneously. She took in the scene before her, stricken. Everybody stared at her in awe, maybe even envy. Rory and Sookie were arranged just so at the front of the church, and the Reverend stood between them and Luke. And _Luke…_he looked as though he could see no one _but _Lorelai – and he probably couldn't. She smiled subtly at him and winked, before her father paused to kiss her cheek and take his seat beside Emily, who patted his arm reassuringly. Lorelai continued her walk of fame up to the front, where she handed her bouquet to Rory and turned to face Luke. And then he had the same effect on her that she must have on him – everything and everyone else faded away into fuzz, and she saw _only _him. She heard the audience sit, and the world came back into focus as the Reverend began to speak. Portions of his speech got lost as her mind focused and refocused on Luke, and what today _was._

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sign of God – and in the face of this company – to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony…"

"…to witness the joining in marriage of Lucas Danes and Lorelai Gilmore…"

"…for love, loyalty, honesty and trust, but most of all for friendship…" She snapped back to when she heard Luke say her name. They had agreed not to recite the story of their mystical journey to the masses, but had _also _agreed that the traditional wedding vows were far too traditional for _them, _the long-lost teenage parents of a kid who were only now, ten years after the fact, getting married.

"Lorelai," he said, smiling entirely in his eyes, which were a twinkling blue – unusual. "I've known you for over ten years, but I still feel like every day I'm learning something new about you. Whether it's that you only like apple pie with cinnamon, or that you want to cry every day when you send Rory to school because you know that one day it will be forever – whatever it is, I _love _that I'm still getting to know you, even after all these years. I feel like _you _know _me _better than I've ever let _anyone _get to know me, and…I love knowing that no matter what happens, no matter how we feel about each other, we can always go…somewhere…and just talk about it. I love that about you," he said, and she smiled shyly. "And I love you," he finished, and slid the thin woven gold band onto her finger. The reverend nodded at her, and she raised her eyebrows at Luke, smiling.

"I honestly never thought that this day would come," she started. "Because it's like, however well I _think _I know you, there's always that one thing that I'd never see coming - " she gave him a knowing look " - that will set you off. But we _always _get through it, even if it takes six years. But now this day _has _come, and I'm just so…_so _happy, Luke. Since I was fourteen years old, you were the one person for me, even if I didn't know it at the time. However confusing it is, I _love _that I can't discern friendship from love with you. That makes one or the other that much better. And I love you too." She in turn slid the matching ring onto his finger. There was a quiet moment, in which she heard a surprising, loud sniffle from her mother, and exchanged a look with Luke. Then the reverend spoke again.

"Lucas, do you take Lorelai for your lawfully wedded wife, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Do you promise to love, honor, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?" Looking right at her, that subtle smile on his face, Luke said softly,

"I do."

"And Lorelai, do you take Lucas for your lawfully wedded husband, to live in the holy estate of matrimony? Do you promise to love, honor, comfort and cherish him from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," she said, her voice cracking the tiniest bit. The Reverend continued on again, and then it was Luke's turn.

"…and now, by the power vested in me by the state of Connecticut, I pronounce you husband and wife. Lucas, you may kiss your bride." Brimming with barely controlled glee, the two met, their lips locking and their arms entwining, as the audience applauded. After a few long moments they broke apart, and almost simultaneously blurted out,

"I love you…" then they looked at each other and laughed, and kissed again while everyone else filed out of the hall to the town square, where the party would take place.

"Did I mention that you look absolutely beautiful?" Luke murmured in her ear.

"No, you didn't," she said with a smile, "But I think it would have been highly inappropriate during the ceremony, anyway…_Lucas." _He snorted in annoyance and kissed her yet again. "I can't believe we actually got _married!" _she exclaimed.

"I know." She saw Sookie and Rory lingering by the door, and motioned them on.

"Go ahead. We need a moment, anyways." Once they were gone, she threw her arms around his neck and let him twirl her around once before setting her down. "I am so happy right now," she told him, unable to get the goofy grin off of her face. After a few minutes of kissing and rejoicing, she took his hand. "We should probably go outside. It is our party, after all." So, hand in hand, they left the church and were greeted by cheers of everyone congregated on the steps. They were nearly chased to the town square, laughing, their hands never once unlocking. As everyone settled down, finding their tables and chattering loudly, the DJ – the one DJ they could find that was not crude, overly loud, and would play what music they liked without flashing ridiculous strobe lights or anything of the sort – tapped the mike and then asked everyone to be quiet while Luke and Lorelai had their first dance as husband and wife. She glanced at Luke and grinned, before he lead her to the dance floor as the opening chords of Thank You by Led Zeppelin began to play. He took one hand in his and put the other on her waist; she put hers on his shoulder, and they began to dance.

_If the sun refused to shine,  
I would still be loving you.  
When mountains crumble to the sea,  
There will still be you and me._

"I love you so much," Lorelai murmured into Luke's chest where she had rested her head as they swayed and stepped from foot. Not quite a waltz, not a junior-high slow dance, but something in between. She moved so that she could see him, and he kissed her, a long one this time.

_Kind woman, I give you my all,  
Kind woman, nothing more.  
Little drops of rain whisper of the pain,  
Tears of loves lost in the days gone by_

"You know what this means, don't you?" he asked, a smile in his voice.

"Hmm?"

"That we're actually conventional."

"How's that now?"

"Well," he said, "We have a kid together…_and _we're married."

"Oh, my god, the horrors!" she joked, smiling. "But then, take the fact that we're only approximately two decades older than Rory…and the fact that the amount I love you and you love me is _so _not conventional."

_My love is strong, with you there is no wrong,  
Together we shall go until we die.  
My, my, my, an inspiration is what you are to me,  
Inspiration, look see._

"You know," he said musingly, "I never would have pegged you as a Led Zeppelin fan. Old."

"Are you kidding me?" she asked, looking up at him. "Clearly you have never met me."

"It's a good thing we just got married, then." And then they danced quietly for the rest of the song, their eyes never leaving each other.

_And so today, my world it smiles,  
Your hand in mine, we walk the miles,  
Thanks to you it will be done,  
For you to me are the only one.  
Happiness, no more be sad,  
Happiness...I'm glad._

And then she was lost in memories, as if a montage of her _life _was playing along with this song, complete with graphics, transitions and everything. Funny how her brain worked.

When they first met. How she knew right then that some small part of her life, not at that time huge, was about to change. How she had been on the brink, slowly realizing that her "friendships" were shams, her family life was crap, and how this one person had saved her from herself.

Their teenage years. Discovering themselves, maybe. As he matured, grew stronger and at the same time more withdrawn, she had needed him more than ever. He had been the one person she could turn to with _any _problem, and as she still said, he was the _only _person other than Rory who she could just spill her guts to and know it would be okay. He had helped her with everything from school problems to love problems, to – even though it was against his own will – picking out the dress for her sophomore Homecoming.

Of course, she thought back to November 28th. How now, as an adult, she realized how rare this was. Not only that her first time was more than two minutes, actually _felt _like something, and was with the person who she loved then and would, really, love forever.

She sort of skimmed over the six years apart, because the only fixture Luke had in her life then was the fact that he wasn't _there. _Then the fight behind the diner. That tearful, raging fight where every angry thought she had had towards him the past six years had come spilling out. _How could you do that to me? What the hell were you thinking, sleeping with me and then not speaking to me? What had I _done _to deserve that, you bastard? _  
After that, things had gone uphill, and _that _part was crystal clear in her mind, the past three or so years. From that _amazing _second-first kiss in her kitchen that had lasted for maybe hours, _days – _to their second-first time. Their second-first I love you. Sure, Luke had been reluctant with those to start out with, but now they came spilling off of his tongue daily, something she applauded herself for. Maybe she and Luke knew each other well enough that they didn't _have _to change each other, the changes were rooted in the bone, but at least she knew that they were still changing. Always changing.

_If the sun refused to shine,_

_I would still be loving you._

_When mountains crumble to the sea,_

_There would still be you and me._

The final chords faded out until there was nothing left, and Luke dipped her back and kissed her, the perfect cheesy movie-style kiss that she _never _would have expected from him. She had to laugh a little, and then the next song started up, a fast swing song played by the band, and he dipped her back up and twirled her as the DJ invited everyone else to come onto the dance floor. They twirled and dipped, and while Lorelai tripped, Luke was sure in his every motion. He could dance – _actually _dance, not just sway from side to side – and that was something she hadn't known about him. She liked that – that he was full of surprises.

The rest of the evening passed in a beautiful blur of champagne, lights, dancing, food, cake, kissing, laughing. She was thrown from man to man on the dance floor – from her father to some cousin and even to _Joe _from high school, who had come with Aimi – who, apparently, had left her old husband. By the time the night was over it was past midnight, and, back in their street clothes, they were jostled through a line of well-wishers as they headed for the car that would bring them to the airport. Finally she reached her parents. Her mother looked at her for a long moment and then kissed her on both cheeks, whispering a heartfelt congratulations in her ear. Her father simply hugged her, and she blinked in surprise at this unlikely display of affection from him. He shook Luke's hand rather stiffly, and then they were swept into the town car containing their luggage they would bring on the honeymoon. With the door closed and the noise of the wedding behind her, Lorelai finally exhaled.

"Wow," she said, leaning her head back against the seat. "I can't believe that just happened. I can't believe it's _over!" _He kissed the side of her head.

"The good part's just beginning," he whispered so the driver couldn't hear. She turned her head to face him.

"Aww," she cooed. "You're all cheesy and sweet tonight. I like it."

"Well, I figured you deserved some movie-star magic tonight," he reasoned.

"Luke…" she smiled, biting back happy tears. "I'm gonna go with your cheesiness and say that every single moment I spend with you _is _movie-star magical, even if we're fighting, even if all we're doing is eating breakfast…I _love _you."

"Yeah, me too," he said, pushing back a curled lock from her face. "I love you, too." She leaned forward and he kissed her. Long, sweet, perfect – everything that _all _of his kisses were, really. Once they had broken apart, the driver asked,

"Where's the first stop, miss?" She looked out the window.

"You can let us out right here," she said, spotting the familiar road sign. "We'll be back." She grabbed Luke's hand and lead him out of the car. They walked down the shoulder of the road until her trained eye spotted the small path, and they then emerged into the clearing. Instead of going to her usual place on the boulder or under the tree, they stood smack dab in the middle, their hands still linked. "Nice reference to that _somewhere _in your vows, by the way," she said, and he chuckled softly.

"Couldn't leave it out, could I?"

"No, I guess not." She tipped her head up to look at the sky, and he did the same. The sky was completely clear, and the stars almost seem to spell out words. He lifted her hand and pointed at a star.

"You see that one?" he asked, and she nodded. "On November 27th, I was here. It was night, I was lying right about here, and I chose that star and named it after you."

"November 27th?" she questioned, and he nodded.

"Funny how those things work sometimes, huh? There was no way I could have known you were going to show up the next night…"

"…but somehow you did," she finished, and turned to face him. She entwined her other hand with his as well, and he looked right into her eyes before kissing her. Their arms encircled each other as they swayed slightly on the spot until they found their balance, finding that familiar rhythm they had known for years. Maybe even forever.

They had come so far, for so long, and the second chapter of their lives began exactly where the first had started. Because, indeed, their lives had not really started until they met each other, and now that the struggle, the terror and the newness of each other had passed, they could begin again. Together. No more separations, no more angst, no more false impressions. Just _them. _Sure, it wouldn't always be easy. Maybe sometimes it would be heartbreakingly difficult. But now that they had that trust, that _drive, _and that joy, they could pull through it. This time around. And so we leave them here, in that place that only they knew, kissing under the stars.


End file.
